Puppy Love
by Kittenshift17
Summary: "What about men Little Red?" William growled at her, his voice deadly soft and almost angry, his eerie green eyes filled with that predatory gleam "What would you have done if a woodcutter or someone else had happened upon you and set their mind to raping you? You're out here alone, tormenting anyone who sees you, naked and beautiful. They could be upon you before you realized."
1. Chapter 1

**Little Red Riding Hood.**

Once upon a time there was little village nestled in the heart of the woods and in that village there lived a woman and her young son. One day, the woman and her son were out in the forest gathering up healing herbs, when they were set upon by a ravenous pack of wolves. The woman screamed and cried for help, but no one came and so the wolves dragged her little boy away. She chased them, but her son was very young and small enough that the swift wolves were able to carry him off with ease.

Broken hearted and distraught, the woman returned to the village, horrified that no one had heard her cries for help and come to the aid of her and her son. In the process she had been scratched by the crazed wolves, and so she set about cleansing her wounds while she tried to come to terms with the loss of her son. She had no husband, and her son had been the last of her family. She took the night to prepare herself for telling others within the village, falling into a fitful sleep plagued by nightmares. Wolf attacks in the village were common and her son was not the first child to have been carried away and never seen again.

Sometime during the night the woman awoke to the sounds of scuffling and scratching in the kitchen. Fearing the wolves had returned to finish her off, or that a bear had wandered into the village and sought the stew she had left in the pot over the hearth, the woman crawled out of bed and found the knife she often used when gathering her healing herbs. She raised it over her head, prepared to kill whatever animal thought it could come into her home when the beasts had taken so much from her already. Following her ears through her darkened house, the woman crept towards the fire where she heard soft growling and sucking sounds.

Something was feeding.

Hurling an oil lamp into the low burning flames of the hearth, the woman cried out like a wounded animal herself as she brought her knife down swiftly. The fire leapt angrily with new fuel and cast into sight was a creature unlike any the woman had ever seen. Before she could bury her knife in flesh, strong, clawed hands caught hold of her wrists and forced the knife away. The creature was small and wiry but incredibly strong. Covered in blood and dirt from the forest, as well as remnants of her stew, the creature's eyes gleamed wickedly in the darkness, all the more eerie as they peered out from a face thrown into shadow and backlit by the now roaring fire.

"Mama?" the word was guttural and growling, yet the voice that uttered it was familiar. The woman stared in horror at the creature before her, realising slowly that it was in fact the son she had, just this afternoon, seen dragged away and torn apart by hungry wolves. The woman sobbed as she realised this, falling to her knees in front of the fireplace and staring at the little boy through her tears.

His face looked normal, though his eyes glowed an eerie green from the shadows of his now sharpened features. He seemed to have grown in the past hours, his limbs having elongated. As she stared she realised that in spite of being five years old, the boy now looked more like a nine or ten year old. His body no longer held even a skerrick of baby fat, leaving wiry muscles to ripple beneath his tanned skin. His ribs stuck out as though he was emaciated and his hair seemed to have turned wild. The once short silky strands now hung to his shoulders, thick and coarse in a shiny brown tangle. His face was pointed, his cheekbones and jaw jutting out sharply. If she hadn't known his true age she might have assumed him to be a boy of twelve rather than five when she looked into his face. The strength he had shown to catch her wrists and deflect the blow of the knife she'd meant to drive into his heart scared the woman.

"I don't know what happened to me mama" the creature before her murmured with her son's voice, once again it was gruff and guttural, but she'd know his voice anywhere "They tried to tear me apart, but I fought back like you taught me to. With my knife. And when one of them let my arm go I punched it with my knife between my fingers. I think I must have it's heart because it staggered away and died, Mama."

The woman couldn't believe her ears and she shook her head in disbelief as tears dripped off her chin. The boy squatting in front of her nodded.

"I brought him back Mama… When I came home to you, I brought him. You said we needed more wolf skins for blankets so I bought him home." The little boy sounded proud of himself for having remembered her words from that morning, and when she shook her head again the boy nodded and scurried away without rising from his crouch. When he returned he still crouched on the balls of his feet and used one hand for balance while he used the other to drag the body of a wolf into the light of the fire. Compared to the boy, the wolf looked enormous. At least six foot from the tip of it's nose to the end of it's tail; it's mottled grey fur was tinged red in places with blood and the woman wondered if the blood belonged to the wolf or to the creature who spoke with her son's voice.

Faced with the proof of the tale and the proud gleam in the eyes of her son, the woman had no choice but to accept his story as the truth. Breaking down into sobs, the woman reached out to tug the boy onto her lap, burying her face against his bloodied, bare shoulder. He stroked her hair silently and hugged her back, until the woman couldn't cry anymore and finally he said

"I'm hungry Mama."

* * *

Over the following years, the woman noticed many things about her son that were not right and were entirely abnormal. He grew too quickly and by his tenth birthday he looked like a fourteen year old. But that was the least worrisome thing about her son. Every full moon his body morphed from that of a boy, to that of a monster. Like the wolves that had attacked him, her son regularly changed shape. He never fully took the form of a wolf at the full moon, but his body would sprout thick fur and his limbs would elongate unnaturally. His hands and feet turned to paws and his head took the hideous form of wolf, his torso remained that of a man, covered in fur though it was very thin on his belly and incredibly thick over his shoulders and chest and down his back. Whenever this happened he ran in that same crouched position, his body streamlining almost to that of a wolf. He grew a long tufted tail and took to the woods with a vengeance, becoming a wild thing that the woman had heard about as being described a 'werewolf'.

As a precaution to explain his unusual behaviour, and to satisfy his yearning to explore, the boy took to the woods almost all the time and it earned him a feared reputation and a cruel nickname. Wild Willy, they called him, and as he grew the name adapted to account for his strangely well developed body and mind by the time he was twelve he looked eighteen and everyone referred to her William as Wildman Willy. He was not fond of the name and few were brave enough to call him such to his face for he developed an unnerving stare that made grown men shiver uneasily. The woman knew it was because they felt the gaze of a predator, though they did not know it themselves.

He learned to control the beast that emerged during the full moon, and harnessed the energy, allowing him to take the form of an enormous wolf at will. The woman knew that on more than one occasion her William was sighted in wolf form, bounding through the forest and bringing down deer and elk and all manner of creatures in an attempt to keep up with his ravenous appetite. She was impressed as he grew that he was able to tear into the animals in such a way that he often bought her home soft skins and furs, sometimes managing to save her some cuts of the meat. He was careful not to be seen bringing her home deer or elk skins without any meat since that would arouse suspicion, and he learned to hide such truths from the townsfolk by wandering far and wide sometimes not returning for weeks at a time.

He became known for his skill as a hunter, and feared for his predatory wildness.

Fear ran rampant in the village when people heard him howl on the nights of the full moon, or caught a glimpse of him in the forest in wolf form. The townsfolk were terrified of being attacked by wolves or bears or supposedly 'mythical' beasts said to roam the forests and took every precaution to protect themselves and their children from such an attack as the one William had survived. They built high walls to keep the beasts at bay and as time went by they built carefully constructed and maintained paths through the forest that were considered safe. In spite of the stigma that surrounded his lack of fear for the woods and his incessant need to lose himself amongst the trees, William made several friends as he grew though none so close as that with the little girl in the red cape. Three years his junior, Little Red- as she was known- was his constant companion as he grew, though her father was among the most vocal and the most paranoid concerning the fear of the wolves in the woods and she was often discouraged her friendship with William.

The woman had watched with amusement when her son learned how to slip away from the girl in order to cope with the warring natures within him and by the time he was thirteen, she knew her William was as protective of and enamoured with the pretty little girl as any man twice his age would be upon discovering a sprite or a nymph bathing in the forest. He regularly accompanied her when she travelled through the woods to visit her grandparents, and the woman had watched her son fight for the girl on more than one occasion.

In spite of his werewolf condition, he was not quick to anger. However, he grew incredibly protective of Little Red and of his mother. When he was fourteen he suddenly found himself amid a bloody battle with another boy- older than himself though the boy didn't look or act it- who had taken a shine to sweet, innocent Little Red and pinned her down to try to kiss her. With blood on his knuckles, and Red's father roaring in his face, William had found himself in a predicament with only one way out. The woman had watched sadly as her son had taken the only option he could, choosing to become a Woodsman and roam the wild forests in search of any beast that might threaten their little village and any food he could find. He wasn't forced from the village but he returned only once every month or so to deliver his report to the chief of their village and provide venison and fowl and furs to his mother.

She had watched the way it tore at her son to leave the sweet little girl who still wore a red cape behind, but the woman knew that if her William had stayed he would've come to death fighting to keep other men away from the pretty young woman. He visited her when he could, prowling the forest, most times as a wolf but he made sure to seek her out whenever he came home.

* * *

The girl sang as she skipped up the path, her long red cape swishing along in her wake. She carried a basket she had weaved herself and she giggled every now and then as she remembered her father's words.

"Don't leave the path Little Red. No one is ever attacked on the path."

He warned of other things, like not talking to strangers and keeping a wary eye out for wolves or bears, drawn in by the scents of the food she carried in her basket. In all her years fourteen years, Red had not once seen wolf anywhere in the forest, and she found it absurd that so many of the townsfolk were so fearful of the woods. Nonetheless she kept an eye out for predators that might be drawn to the side of venison she carried in her basket. She spied many creatures in the woods as she wound her way along the path towards Grandma's, and she was unable to resist the urge to creep from the path as she had done so many times before to gather up wildflowers. She sang as she picked them, enjoying the way the little birds of the forest sang her tune back to her. She spied several fluffy bunnies among the flowers enjoying the blossoms, and even spotted a little hedgehog trundling through the gloom on his way to bed after a long night out foraging.

What Red didn't spy was the wolf. More than a hundred yards away, slipping silently through the trees on padded paws was a wolf much too large for regular wolves to trifle with. Five foot tall at the top of his shoulder, the wolf crept through the woods with his eye on the singing girl. Her hair was black as midnight and fell to her waist like a shiny black curtain of silk. Her eyes were bluer than the sky and gleamed with happiness and innocence. Her skin was pale and smooth, flawless and softer than silk to touch. She wore a pale green dress and was shrouded, as always, in her long red cape. The hood was down today, the sunlight catching the beauty of her face and the wolf smiled at the sight of her.

She was gathering wildflowers, bundling them up in hers arms, the bright colours contrasting to her silky black hair as it fell forwards over her shoulders. Purple and red and blue and yellow and pink warred to catch his eyes, but nothing could draw his eyes from her beautiful face. As he watched, she reached out and stroked her fingers against the soft fur of a rabbit that had allowed her close enough to pet it. He grinned wolfishly to know the creature was as unaware of his presence as the girl. His nose twitched, trying to catch her sweet scent and when it came to him on the breeze he lifted his nose to savour it. She smelled of the reeds and twigs she weaved her baskets and things from, and the rose water she bathed her skin in. His nose picked up the scent of the fresh bread and venison she carried in her basket, along with the sweet sugary scent of muffins and the perfume of the flowers she now carried but he dismissed them in favour of the familiar scent of her skin.

When Little Red lifted her head, she felt sure she was being watched. It was a familiar feeling, one she felt almost every time she ventured to Grandma's house and her eyes searched the gloom for her watcher. It was times like now that she wished her best friend Will was still around to walk with her to Grandmother's. She'd never felt safer than she did when he was around and now that he was a woodsman he would be a welcome companion on times when she felt eyes upon her. He'd always had a knack for spotting the woodland creatures her eyes dismissed as they sat still and silent waiting for her to pass, and he always knew just what to say to make her laugh and forget any worries she might have.

Red missed him and wondered when she might see him next. After he had fought with Barry the Butcher, a man much older than Red who had said inappropriate things about her looks and then pinned her down trying to kiss her when she'd been just eleven years old, Father and the other men in the village decided it was time they give Will a job, one that would get him away from Little Red to please her father and one that would keep him from breaking the nose of anyone else who was rude to Red. Red still hadn't entirely forgiven her father for the whole incident since he'd decided that the broken nose and sound beating William had given Barry were, according to him, enough of a lesson about not trying to take advantage of an eleven year old girl, no matter how pretty she might be. Instead of crying for Barry's blood, Father had seen to it that Red's friendship with William was much more difficult to maintain, and had deprived her of the company of her best friend since. Red still saw Will whenever he was home, but he'd already spent a lot of his time in the woods. Now he just came home less frequently and Red wasn't allowed to tag along behind him. He took the job seriously too, patrolling the territory surrounding the village with rigid dedication.

Every now and then over the years Red had been able to convince Will into relaxing enough to sneak off into the woods with her and teach her how to use his bow or how to track a bear. Father hadn't succeeded in ending the friendship between William and Little Red like he'd hoped by sending Will away, though Red knew it was because Will had few other friends, and because of her association with 'Wildman Willy' and her ever growing beauty, the other girls in the village weren't all that interested in becoming close friends with Red. In a way, their lack of other friends had sustained and even deepened their friendship after Will had begun training as a Woodsman, but Red couldn't say she minded. She missed him when he was away, but when he came back he always had new and exciting stories to tell to her for hours and it was like he'd never been away at all. Red loved it in Winter when Will didn't have to patrol as often and so spent more time at home. During the cold season Little Red and William could often be found curled up together in front of the fire at Margret the Healer's house -since she was Will's mother- while Will told Red stories and made her laugh until she'd contentedly fall asleep with her face snuggled up on his chest or in his lap.

In wolf form, Will froze as Little Red lifted her head and peered through the gloom directly at him. Had she heard him? Or did she merely feel his eyes on her and suspect, as she often did, that something stalked her from the dark stillness of the forest. He'd never been able to admit to her that it was him; not without giving away a secret she might not understand.

After all, how could he tell the girl that the reason he'd looked eighteen at twelve was because he was a werewolf? How could he explain that whenever he felt like it he could slip his skin and become that which the townsfolk feared more than anything else? His mother knew his secret and every day since he'd been five years old she had lived with the awful truth that her son was a monster. She had to speak carefully and lie constantly to explain his strange behaviour, especially his advanced development. Now that he was seventeen that didn't matter so much, but Will still remembered the way his mother had looked when she had first laid eyes on him after those wolves had attacked him.

Throughout his life, many had looked at him with fear or repugnance for his advanced development and the way his voice turned guttural around the full moon. They scorned and laughed at him for his gangly awkwardness as he'd grown far too quickly, and they called him Wildman Willy for his tangle of messy, shoulder-length brown hair that was really his wolfish fur, and the wicked predatory gleam in his eyes. His love of the woods and incessant need to hunt down prey didn't help his reputation and by the time he'd been ten he'd hated his existence.

And then he'd met Little Red. The nickname was fitting because as a seven year old she'd been tiny and her given name was Ruby. Will had looked twice her age and was more than double her tiny stature, but there had been something that wiggled its way into his heart when the little girl had bravely walked towards him as he pretended to curses and struggle, dragging a large doe through the snowy village to give to his mother. He couldn't help the way he looked like he ought to be able to carry it with ease, which of course he could have, but he pretended for the villagers, allowing them to think that he might look older but he was still a ten year old boy.

Will could still remember her determined little face peering out from beneath her crimson hood as she had walked up to him and taken hold of the does back legs. He'd been impressed by the way she had hoisted them high onto her tiny shoulders. The doe's body still dragged along the ground though and he'd been amused by the little pout on her face when she had realised that and lowered them again before coming to stand right next to him and, taking one of the does forelegs from his grasp, had begun hauling right along next to him. Right then Will had felt something inside him reach out and wrap around the brave little girl.

All of the other little girls and boys in the village often watched him, even the older children, but they never approached for fear of his flashing green eyes and the wildness that tainted his every step. Yet Little Red had come forwards bravely, believing that he'd needed help to drag the doe home. He had liked the way she dragged the doe with him in silence, and the way she had bravely held her hand out to him when they had achieved their task. He'd especially liked the way she had introduced herself as Little Red, and had addressed him as William instead of Willy, Wild Willy, Wildman Willy or any other variation of his name that the townsfolk liked to call him in scorn of his wildness.

His mother had been amused when Little Red had invited herself to have supper with them, and she had been very interested in talking about healing herbs with his mother, who happened to be the village Healer. She had generally made a nuisance of herself as she buzzed about in their home, helping Will and his mother skin the doe, fetching a bucket of water for his mother to set to boil, she had even rushed off, only to quickly return carrying a watertight basket she had weaved herself from rushes. She had presented it to his mother, suggesting they transport the innards and other nasty things they had cast aside from the butchered doe out into the forest for the wolves. In fact she had stayed so long that she had fallen asleep curled up next to William by the fire, with her long red cape wrapped around her like a blanket and her head against his arm.

Her father had been less than impressed when he opened his door to find Wildman Willy on his doorstep cradling a still sleeping Little Red against his chest, and William had been uncomfortable beneath the gaze of her father, who was well known for his dislike of William and his activities in the forest. In spite of that, she had become his first real friend. Little Red never looked at him strangely when he bounded off the path on the way to visit her grandmother, never questioned it when his voice turned guttural and gravelly as the full moon approached. Many times she had even let him draw her into the forest, trusting him implicitly to keep her safe. When she'd been so young and so much smaller than him, she'd been fond of riding around on his shoulders and still liked to demand piggy-back-rides sometimes.

He didn't like to admit the way he missed the feel of her fingers dragging through his hair. She had a habit of trying to untangle the mess it always was, and on one memorable occasion had succeeded, insisting that she be allowed to plait it in a vain attempt to keep it tangle free for a little while. Will had let her, liking the way her beautiful face seemed to absolutely glow with happiness.

But in spite of all that, Will still didn't think he could ever tell her his secret. He couldn't bear the thought of Little Red turning away from him in horror or disgust, and he didn't like the idea of her having to lie to everyone anymore than she already did where he was concerned. When she'd been twelve he'd saved her once, proving that he was much stronger than any fifteen year old boy ought to be -even one who looked eighteen- when he'd lifted a heavy tree high enough for her to slither from beneath it after they'd found themselves caught in a mini-avalanche. She'd never told anyone, explaining to everyone that the bruises and cuts were only minor, though Will knew that if he'd left the log on top of her any longer she would've died.

Red twitched in her crouched position, the bunny she'd been petting having bounded away when she'd gone still beneath the gaze of the predator watching her. At that moment, with her basket beside her and a bundle full of flowers in her arms, Red felt her hair stand on. She could swear she'd just heard a soft growl from the depths of the forest. Away to the left she heard the sound of something moving and Red glanced in that direction, wondering what was watching her.

Will snarled when his nose picked up an unwelcome scent and his ears detected the sound of a bear foraging close by. In spite of his wolf form and his job as a Woodsman, he rarely killed the bears or any wolves that strayed into his territory or too close to the village paths. He usually just drove them off, but occasionally had to kill any too stubborn to take the hint. On those occasions he took the furs for himself or his mother, and in leans times, took some of the bear meat. The bear nearby was one he had driven off before and Will snarled a little louder to know that the stubborn creature clearly had it programmed inside it's thick skull that this land was its territory. Will knew it hibernated nearby, and so when Spring came the bear had a tendency to wander around foraging for food and fattening up for the following winter. He didn't hold it against the bear, after all, the nature of bears had little care for the pathetic fears and ruthless hatred humans delved in, so one bear foraging in the same area as a path wasn't really a crime.

Normally he wouldn't mind the bear's presence at all since they tended to stay out of the village, the fire and the high village walls deterring them. Even knowing it was nearby was not much of an issue. The issue was that the bear had clearly caught the scent of the venison Red carried and was interested in investigating such a tasty smelling meal. Will snarled some more when he realised that all his snarling had drawn Red's attention away from the noisy bear and back to him. Her bright blue eyes were fixed on the place where he stood among the trees, hidden amid the gloom. His position had definitely been given away, and Will realised that the only way he was going to be able to save her would be if he terrified her.

Will growled loudly at her for her curiosity even as he realised it was probably his fault that she had so little fear of anything that might make noises in the woods. Whenever he'd walked her to her grandmother's he'd driven other predators away, and after he'd been forced to stop spending all of his time with her, he still kept track of her, making sure he was the only predator watching her whenever she went on her weekly trip to visit her grandmother. Wanting to go and scare off the bear, but knowing Little Red wouldn't leave until she'd caught sight of whatever was making so much noise, Will stalked forwards, growling loudly.

Catching sight of his hulking size, Red leapt to her feet and backpedalled towards the safety of the path. She was running before Will had taken five steps towards her and he smiled to see that she had the sense to run the rest of the way to her grandmother's. Sighing, he turned towards the sounds coming from the noisy bear as it snuffled it's way through the undergrowth, resigning himself to drawing the bear away from the path and deciding he ought to stop in and visit Red at her Grandmother's.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Little Red Riding Hood giggled to herself as she stepped off the path. It was the day of her fifteenth birthday, and Father had granted her permission to spend the day doing whatever she wished. She had wanted to spend the day with Will, but he hadn't come home from his latest foray into the woods yet. Foolishly she had hoped that he'd be back for her birthday but she knew better than to blame him for putting his job before something as trivial as her birthday. Since he wasn't home, Red had come up with another idea of how to spend her time. In spite of the promise Father had made to her that she could have the entire day off, she knew that if she stayed around the village someone would undoubtedly ask her to do something and Red was determined to have an entire day without Father breathing down her neck about something.

She giggled again as she thought of how mad he would be to know that Red was straying from the paths and wandering off into the forest. She rolled her eyes at the absurdity that her father actually believed she only ever gathered the materials she used in her weaving by collecting them from down by the river or the very edges of the forest. She wasn't renowned for her skills and the patterns she weaved into her work because she used the same limited resources as everybody else. She was renowned because she often slipped away into the forests and found exciting new materials that made her work more exciting.

The birds sang along to the tune she hummed as Little Red Riding Hood bounded through the forest towards one of her favourite places in the world. She was barefoot, with her summer cape hanging from her shoulders. Her yellow dress was a little too small because she had finally started to fill out, womanly curves dipping her waist and swelling her breasts and her hips. Her hair flew behind her and for once Red didn't care that it might be getting tangled as she bounded towards the clearing. She had found a little stream that trickled into the river down by the village when she'd been cutting reeds last year, and Red had followed the little stream all the way up until she'd found an amazing place.

The pond was a pretty blue, with a little waterfall flowing into it to keep the water clear and fresh. The glade itself was illuminated by sunlight because the pond made no room for trees to grow too closely. Red sighed as she bounded into the clearing, not at all caring about the shy doe that startled and bounded away from her presence. Her cape fell from her shoulders while she laughed and landed flat on the soft grass behind her. Next went her too small dress, landing in a crumpled heap between her crimson cape and the pond. Standing naked in the clearing, Red didn't even look around before she took a running leap and dove into the cool water, warmed by the morning sun.

She paddled her feet to the surface as she floated on her back, enjoying the rays of sunlight against her bare skin and the freedom of being completely alone. It was nice to get away from Mother and Father, to be able to laugh out loud at anything she found even the slightest bit funny. Both of her parents were very concerned about image, about what the other people in the village thought, and they often nagged at Red for the way she showed little regard of gossip and the opinions of others. Red had never cared if other people thought her odd for her friendship with William, or for the fact that she always wore a crimson cape, even in the summer time. She didn't care that many of the other girls in the village resented her for her good looks, or the attentions of men she had little interest in.

Lying on her back in the water, Red peered up at the sky and raised her voice to the heavens. She was deep in the forest and not likely to be disturbed so she was unafraid to sing at the top of her lungs. She didn't know how long she laid there floating in the water, her long black hair swirling around her, singing as loudly as she could.

William held his breath when he heard the sound and for just a moment he was sure he was dreaming. It sounded like the tune Little Red liked to hum and sing to herself, but surely no one would be crazy enough to have come so deep into the forest and make such noise. He was on his way home after more than a month away, trying to get back in time to wish Red a happy birthday, but when he heard the familiar tune, William couldn't resist following the sound to its source. It felt funny to be back in his human shape after months as a wolf, and he was tempted to slip his human skin in order to investigate quickly and stealthily, but Will resisted the urge, knowing he needed practice at being human after so long as the wolf.

In spite of his humanity, he slipped silently through the trees until he came upon the maker of the sound. The first thing he noticed was the beauty of the clearing, followed by the bright crimson of the cape laid out on the grass and the crumpled pile of yellow material close by it. The sound of singing was loud in his ears, but for just a minute Will froze his gaze on the crumpled yellow pile. It could only be her dress and no one else for miles around wore a crimson cape. His mind connected the dots quickly, and yet William felt suddenly sluggish. On a psychological level he knew that the crumpled yellow pile of Little Red's dress meant she was naked, and the close proximity of the pool of water pointed to where she might be in that naked state, but Will was having trouble comprehending the ramifications of him happening upon her whilst naked.

The last time he'd been home he hadn't been able to visit her, and while he'd been away he hadn't the time during the ends of winter to keep an eye on her when she went to visit her grandmother. He'd been too preoccupied with several wolf packs that had moved into the areas surrounding the village and the forest, hunting the migrating elk and reindeer herds. He hadn't seen Little Red in months, not since before the start of winter and it was now the middle of spring.

How could it be that his first meeting with her after so long would see her naked? He himself had very little on, having managed to only maintain the slight scraps of the clothes he'd worn. He'd made himself some clothes that he kept in stashes, but he hadn't been across one yet. As a wolf he had little need for clothing as he had his fur to keep him warm and protected. Which was how he came to find himself in a pathetic excuse for a loin cloth and not much else. Still, he wore more than she currently did.

He was refusing to let his eyes waver from the yellow cloth of her dress, knowing he would have little control of himself should he catch a sight of the girl he'd been enamoured with for years, naked and alone. The animal in him had been demanding for years that he make some kind of move on her, but Will had always resisted the urge, not wanting to frighten the girl. Quivering with the effort it took to keep his eyes from seeking her out, Will realised she was still singing, completely oblivious to his presence and he cursed silently. He was going to have to let her know he was there, without catching sight of her naked body. Because if he saw her…. Will didn't know what the animal in him might do.

Red flinched when water splashed onto her face and immediately let her body sink into the water, lifting her head to search for the cause of the disturbance. Something brushed against her arm and Red caught it between her fingers, lifting the pebble out of the water to examine. What on earth could've thrown a pebble at her? Red's eyes searched the gloom beyond her brightly lit clearing for whomever or whatever had thrown the pebble and she had almost dismissed it as nothing until she did a double take.

Lurking in the shadows, leaning against a tree, bare-chested and naked but for a loin cloth was the wild haired boy she'd been friends with for eight years. His shoulder was propped against a tree and his inside ankle curled across the outside one as he leaned there casually….. William…. Red wanted to scream happily at the sight of him and she felt a smile sweep across her face as she met his eerily bright gaze. She even started out of the water towards him before she remembered that she was completely naked.

Even as children they had never been naked near each other, though they had come awfully close several times.

"Will?" Red asked softly, not entirely sure she hadn't fallen asleep in the warm sun and slipped into a dream of her favourite friend. He was statue still as he watched her, his arms folded across his broad chest. When he didn't respond, Red frowned "Am I day dreaming? Are you actually here or is my mind playing tricks on me because it's been so long since I've seen you?"

Red felt her lips twitch when Will moved. On silent bare feet he pushed away from his tree and padded out into the sunlight of the clearing.

"You're naked" he said, his voice low and a little bit guttural. His arms were still folded and he didn't move any closer than to stand just inside the ring of sunlight in her clearing.

"I'm swimming" Red countered, hearing the judgement in his voice "And I assumed I was alone."

Will's expression never changed, but Red could tell that he disapproved of the idea of her swimming naked, even alone. No doubt because just as he had done, anyone could happen upon her. Mother had warned her many times that if a man were to happen on her alone he might try to have his way with her but Red had dismissed her, telling herself no one would find her so deep in the forest.

Remembering her mother's words, Red looked more closely at William, wondering if he reacted to her beauty the same way other men in the village did. She searched his eyes for the familiar heat she saw in men's gazes and Red bit her lip to keep from gasping in surprise. In all the time they'd been friends Will had never shown any signs that he even noticed her beauty. He'd fought fights for her, more than once, telling other boys to leave her alone and not say such suggestive things to her, reinforcing the message with his fists when he had to. But Red had always believed he did it because he knew the boys upset her and he didn't like to see her upset. Could it possibly be that he thought of her as belonging to him? Red was one of his only friends, after all.

She was surprised at her own curiosity, wondering at the heat in her friend's gaze. When other men watched her that way it made Red uncomfortable. It was one of the reasons she always wore her cape, allowing herself the ability to hide amid the loose folds. Yet when she saw the same heat in William's eyes, Red didn't mind so much. He still hadn't spoken again and Red began to smile at him. He'd always been odd, but she never minded his prolonged silences and so was undeterred by it now, even in the face of the desire she could see gleaming in his eyes.

"Is that really the way to greet a friend on her birthday, William?" Red admonished gently as she smiled at her wild haired friend "I don't see you for months and months, and then when I do all you can do is point of that I'm naked whilst swimming. Where is my hug hello? And my birthday hug?" she demanded, outright grinning at the way his green gaze kept trying to stray from her eyes as she slowly walked out of the chest deep water towards him. Red had no idea where her bravery came from, especially beneath his heated gaze, but as she rose from the water completely aware of her nakedness, a part of her wanted William to see her with nothing on.

"What are you doing?" he asked warily, his voice low and just a little husky as he watched her breasts rise from the obscuring water to reveal the tight peaks of her nipples and the dip of her narrow waist.

"I want my hug and you don't look like you're about to dive in and give it to me, so I guess I'll have to come and get it." Red teased, finding even more bravery in the heat of his stare. There was something empowering about knowing that she could make even her best friend want her. William was one of the few people whose opinion actually mattered to Red, and knowing that even he thought she was desirable made her want to push the tight control he seemed to have on himself.

"Stop" he practically barked at her, his arms crossed tightly as though he was afraid of what they might do should his hands get free of where he had shoved them into his arm pits to restrain them.

"But Will…" Red said breathily "I haven't seen you in months and months. I miss your hugs when you're away" she tormented him, knowing that she was using many of the tricks she'd seen other girls in the village use when trying to seduce a man into offering to be her husband. "Won't you make me feel better and give me a hug William?" she breathed, knowing he'd hear her even as he struggled to keep his eyes on her face rather than her bare flesh as she stepped completely out of the pond.

"You don't want to hug me" he warned her, clearly trying to hold her off since she had no intention of donning her dress while her skin was still wet "I'm too dirty… I'll….. get clean first."

Red wanted to purr in satisfaction "You'll swim with me?" She asked excitedly. He didn't like to swim very often, preferring to run through the forest like a madman instead. He gave a sharp nod and Red heard his breath hiss inwards as the movement took his eyes from her face. The feel of his gaze on her body did strange things to Red, and she suddenly felt the urge to have him run his hands over her the way his eyes had.

She heard him curse as she stood still, waiting for him to come closer and swim with her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, his voice almost completely obscured by the growl in it and Red felt herself smile wickedly in response to how her body affected him.

"Waiting for you to swim with me" she replied innocently, slowly lifting her arm to offer him her hand.

"You're still naked" he all but hummed. Red nodded at him, smiling innocently.

"I don't want to get my dress wet. Then what will I wear home?"

William couldn't stand it. He could swear she knew how much she was teasing him, standing there innocently, her body bared to him. She had grown since he'd last see her, her breasts filling out and her hips widening as her body took the shape of a woman's. Intellectually he knew that wider hips would someday make it easier for her to give birth and William cursed softly when the thought conjured images of her pregnant with his child. He hadn't believed his eyes as she'd come out of the water and now he couldn't take them off her body. He was still staring at her, not realising she was edging closer until he felt her little hands slide across his ribs and around his back. She pressed her naked body against him and Will almost lost control. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and his hands twitched with yearning as he felt her soft round breasts press against his skin.

He wanted to hug her back, but he didn't know if he could without groping her.

"Will?" She murmured, peering up at his face and he closed his eyes for a moment before he met her gaze. "Don't you want to hug me back?" She whispered to him and Will felt the wolf that lived inside his chest tip it's head back and howl a long yes. Both of his hands brushed against her breasts as he unfurled his arms so that he could wrap them around her petite figure. She sighed happily in his arms and Will felt like he just might die as he fought the urge to throw her down and ravish her the way his wolf wanted him to. She laid her head against his chest and Will cuddled her closer, realising how much he'd missed her, temporarily putting his desire aside.

"You're always so warm" she murmured happily and Will began to grind his teeth. She'd started rubbing against him, snuggling her face into him and making the rest of her body slide against his because she was still soaking wet. Will wondered how she felt about the erection she could no doubt feel him poking against her stomach. He couldn't do anything about it, and right now he could think of only one way to get rid of it, which bought him right back to the idea of throwing her down and ravishing her until his heart gave out.

"Little Red?" he growled softly into her ear, she hummed in response "You're killin' me, Lass." William told her. He'd been enamoured with her for far too long, and the feel of her against him made him want to do things with her that he'd never wanted to do with anyone else.

Red giggled just a little bit to hear Will admit the truth. She could already feel the proof of his words jutting against her stomach and unsettling his loin cloth. Mother had explained a great many things to her during the Winter, realising her beauty would draw men to her much younger than they drew to other girls. Mother had told her about making love and how she shouldn't do it with anyone who wasn't her husband, and that she shouldn't let any man try to talk her into it or force her into it against her will. Red knew that the erection she could feel against her stomach was Will's body telling Red how much he wanted to make love to her and she felt a thrill race through her at the idea. Mother had explained how it all worked, though Red hadn't been old enough to be considering marriage yet.

"Don't you like it when I hug you William?" Red murmured to the man who held her so tightly. He gave the most wonderful hugs and had done since they'd been children. His hugs were always warm and full bodied, making her feel completely wrapped up by him and utterly safe in his strong arms. During the winter she had longed for the warmth of his hugs and missed the days they had spent as children curled up together by the fire when all their chores were finished. She'd spent the whole winter wishing he were home so that she could fall asleep on his chest, and until just now Red hadn't realised just how much she'd missed her friend.

"Red" William ground out warningly. Red smiled against his warm chest before she stepped back, releasing him. She giggled some more as she spun and raced back to the pond, diving into the water and coming up for air on the far side of the pond by the waterfall.

"Swim with me Will" she called to her friend. Red barely saw him move before she heard the splash of the water as he dove in after her. She screamed when he came up for air right in front of her. "How do you always do that?" Red demanded, slapping her hand against his wet, bare chest in her surprise.

William just gave her a toothy grin and shook his shoulder length brown hair in her face, spraying her with water. Trying to stop him, Red held her hands up to fend off his attack and Will yelped when his wild tangle of hair snagged on her fingers.

"Oh no" Red laughed, realising that his hair had completely entangled her fingers "You haven't even tried to untangle it all winter have you?" She demanded as she set to work trying to extricate herself from the mane of wild brown tangles. Will just smiled innocently at her and Red shook her head.

William bit his lip as he almost blurted out that he didn't need to untangle it in the winter because he'd worn fur, not unruly hair. What was wrong with him? One glimpse of Little Red naked and he was ready to blurt out that he was a werewolf. It had taken everything he had to let her go when she'd stepped back and run for the water away from him. His claws and fangs had almost burst free in protest and he hoped to heaven that she'd had water in her ears when he'd growled.

"You're terrible you know?" Red told him, still trying to untangle her fingers. His hair was even less cooperative when it was wet so William held still, trying to make it easier for her. Not that he minded being practically pressed up against her naked body in the water. "If you kept it plaited it wouldn't get so tangled up and caught in everything" she told him.

"But then what would you do with your free time?" Will asked her cheekily, then he narrowed his eyes on her "Other than run off into the forest where no one can find you and swim naked." Red laughed at him.

"If no one could find me than what are you doing here?" She teased him.

"You're not safe out here, lass" Will argued with her seriously "I haven't been through this part of the forest in months and Old Frank never comes this far in. You coulda run into just about anything in here. Madmen from the village, bears, wolves. There's been several packs around lately. What if someone else had heard you singing and come to investigate? What would you have done if Barry or Ronald or Gerald had come across you naked instead of me?" He asked her.

Red looked at him with her bright blue eyes seriously. "My knife is under my dress" She told him. William snorted.

"That little reed knife wouldn't help you at all if a grown man decided he wanted to rape you" William growled, his wolf snarling at the thought of another man trying to get their hands on the girl he thought of as his.

"I could've fought them off!" Red argued, not liking the way Will poked holes in her theories. He snorted doubtfully and Red scowled at him as she finally freed her fingers from his hair. "I could've! Just because I'm little doesn't mean I can't fight. I could've fought off a wolf…. Maybe not a bear, but if I climbed a tree high enough I'd be safe."

"Bears can climb Red" Will pointed out.

"Yes, but they're big and fat too, I weigh probably a quarter of their weight, maybe even less. You know I could climb all the way to top where the branches are too weak to hold a bear."

"And if a wolf pack found you?"

"They can't climb trees."

William scowled at her. He knew she could run particularly fast, and she was an amazing climber, she could out climb a bear and if she was lucky she might be able to outrun a wolf pack to a tree.

"What about men Little Red?" William growled at her, his voice deadly soft and almost angry, his eerie green eyes filled with that predatory gleam "What would you have done if a woodcutter or someone else had happened upon you and set their mind to raping you? You're out here alone, and tormenting anyone who sees you by being so naked and so beautiful. They could be upon you before you realised."

Red opened her mouth to respond but Will talked over the top of her.

"What if instead of alerting you to my presence, I'd slipped into the water and dragged you to shore, Little Red? What could you have done if I'd pushed you down and raped you?" his voice was harsh and cold and Red felt a wave of hopelessness seize her as she realised there would've been nothing she could do.

"You would never do that" Red whispered softly, certain of her words.

"No, I wouldn't. But others would, Lass. You know they would. I know you see the way they look at you. You're out here all alone, and you weren't keeping an eye out for trouble like I taught you. No one would've heard you scream."

"But other men aren't as strong as you. I could've fought them off." Red argued, wanting desperately to believe it.

"How?" William demanded. "Your knife is over there, and you weren't paying attention. They could've been on you before you even realised you were about to be raped. Even with your knife, you're no match for a grown man, or even a half grown boy." William wanted her to understand the danger she had been in when he'd happened upon her. He liked to believe he truly wouldn't have been able to rape her, but he couldn't say he hadn't thought of a million ways to convince her to yield to him.

"I'm not pathetic and weak, William. I could've fought them enough to run away." Red argued and Will watched the spark in her eyes, the fire that he loved flaring to life at his accusation of her being weak.

"Prove it, Red." He growled, "Prove to me how you would fight me off if I had…. If I'd crept up on you in the water like this, prove to me how you would've fought me off!" William leaned through the water and caught hold of her, dragging her against him, pulling her back against his chest as he began to drag her out of the water.

Red screeched in surprise, but Will was impressed by how quickly she reacted. She didn't claw at the arm he'd wrapped around her throat, instead she tilted her head and buried her teeth in his forearm.

"Don't hold back Red, if I get you to shore, I get to do whatever I want with you." He snarled into her ear, knowing she was afraid to hurt him. William hissed as she bit down as hard as she could, because as she did, her hands seized his crotch and twisted sharply. William dropped her as pain raced through him but he was aware of the way she slipped from his hold and raced for the shore. She stooped to pick up her knife and screamed when he surged out of the water after her. William didn't see how she managed to scoop up her cape as well, but as she ran as fast as she could from him, she dragged the light weight barrier up over her shoulder, sticking her arms through the slits. It flew out behind her in a crimson arc and the wolf inside Will yipped at the chase and the colour, so like blood.

He was going easy on her, pretending to run as fast as another man would. Red had almost reached the trees when Will reached out, grabbing hold of the cape. He grinned when she felt him catch it, liking the tactic as she dropped it again just as quickly. Another man might've slowed upon catching the cape which would buy her a little time. He also like the way she headed for a thicket of close growing trees, knowing her small frame could fit through them much more easily than a man's frame would. William didn't let her get that far. He was too busy teaching her the lesson to let her think she'd be successful, and his wolf wouldn't hear of her getting away.

Increasing his speed fractionally, but still keeping it fair he sprang, catching her around the waist and letting his weight and momentum carry them to the ground. Her wet little body was slippery in his arms and she almost slid free as he took the brunt of the fall on his shoulders, but William tightened his grip to hold her there.

"If it wasn't me, you'd have landed on your face just now" he growled into her ear "Don't go easy on me Red, I've got you to the ground, if I flip you over you're done for, show me how you'd fight me off." William growled. He hadn't finished talking when she drove her little knife into his thigh and he snarled like an angry wolf directly into her ear as it sliced into his flesh. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to let her get hold of the knife, since he would heal too quickly for her to know there wasn't something different about him.

She was gasping wildly and writhing in his arms and Will clamped his arms tight around the wriggling, cursing girl while he yanked her knife free of his skin and threw it away from them. It landed imbedded in a nearby tree trunk.

"Big mistake, lass, you shouldn't have let go after just one blow. You should've held onto your weapon at all costs." William growled into her ear and he heard the way her breath came in ragged gasps as she fought the hysteria she was no doubt feeling. His heart squeezed for her but he had a point to prove.

"And now you're all mine" he growled into her ear, appalled that he didn't have to fake the husky desire in his tone. Without letting her go William flipped her so that her chest pressed against his and he could see the terror in her bright blue eyes as he flipped them both so that her back was laid out on the soft grass. She hadn't even managed to escape the clearing, and she started to cry when William flipped her to her back and forced his knee between her tightly clenched thighs. He pinned her wrists beside her face and settled his body between her now spread thighs. Red thrashed from side to side, tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to fight him off and found that she couldn't.

William hissed when his erection broke free of his wet loin cloth and brushed against the heat of her core, the junction of her thighs spread wide and ready for him to tunnel into. He had to grit his teeth to keep from completely proving his point by burying himself deep inside her, and his wolf howled for him to take her, to finish the job and not stop until she was pregnant with his offspring and not even her father could keep him from having her forever. Will fought against the urge, his teeth grinding with need. The restraint it took was monumental, the head of his penis poised amid her slick folds, right at the opening to her slick channel and Will thought he might just die from the effort it took not to slam himself home inside the girl he'd been in love with for years.

"Red?" he hummed to the sobbing girl beneath him, hoping he might distract himself from the yearning that had his hips minutely thrusting "Little Red, look at me lass."

He whispered it tenderly, but Red shook her head, her eyes squeezed tightly closed. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Lass, I'm not going to do it. Open your eyes and look at me. Please?" he whispered to her, realising suddenly how terrified she truly was that she wouldn't even meet him gaze while she cried. Will cursed himself silently even as he let go of her wrists and scooted down her body so that his penis was nowhere near her folds.

"Little Red, look at me, love" William murmured gently, his voice soft and apologetic as he tenderly pressed his forehead to hers "Come on, lass. You know I'd never really do it to you. I couldn't hurt you if I tried" he murmured. Red sniffled, her eyes still closed. William cuddled his arms beneath her shoulders, crooning to her in the voice she'd only ever heard him use when he coaxed baby animals from their dens after he'd been forced to kill their mothers.

Her heart was racing with terror and adrenaline from their chase, and Red didn't move even though he'd let her go. His weight was light and incredibly warm on top of her and Red cursed herself silently for the way she'd wanted him to do it. She might've been crying, overcome by adrenaline and terror from the chase, but when she'd felt that part of him press against her entrance, branding her with heat, Red had almost begged him to do it. What was wrong with her that he could chase her so brutally and she could want to feel him do the very thing she'd run from? She'd stabbed him for crying out loud, and when it had come down to it, a sick little part of her had begged for him to do it.

"I'm sorry lass" William whispered to her sadly "I didn't want to scare ye, but ye needed to know…. I could never do it to ye, but if someone else had come along instead of me…." his voice trailed off into a growl and Red slowly began to calm down. This was her William. He might chase her and scare her out of her wits, but he would never truly hurt her. He'd taught her things this way before, showing her exactly why something was foolish. Red bit her lip as she vowed not to swim naked again, even when she was alone in the forest. It might not do much to help her if she wore scraps of fabric or fur, but it would buy her a little time if anyone ever attacked her.

Very slowly she opened her eyes and peered into William's eerie green ones. He blinked in surprise and lifted his head so he could smile at her gently.

"Did I hurt ye lass?" he whispered.

Red shook her head. He hadn't hurt her, just scared her into knowing better than the foolish preconceptions she'd had before. When she opened her mouth to reassure him that she was ok so he would stop apologising to her, Red was surprised by what came out. Her voice was low and husky, and even if they'd been surrounded by people no one but Will would have heard her.

"Why didn't you do it?"William blinked in shock at her words. But before he could respond she kept talking. "When you taught me things like this in the past you didn't stop before showing me the complete ramifications of something…. So why didn't you show me this time?"

William stared at her, lifting himself up with his arms to peer down at her and wondering if she had hit her head on something. It sounded almost like she'd wanted him to really do it.

"There's a line lass. There's a big difference between showin' ye how much a punch to the stomach can hurt, and actually rapin' ye. I could never do something like that to you. Not without your permission. 'Sides, if I did you'd get pregnant and you're father would try to kill me."

Shaking his head, William rolled off her, righting his loin cloth to keep her from having to see him completely exposed. He could just imagine the way the townsfolk would condemn him and Red if he gave in to the wolf's wishes and had his way with Red right now. Red didn't say anything as she slowly sat up, though she did cross he legs over each other to hide her lady garden and brought her hands up to cover her breasts. William snorted in amusement at her sudden spat of modesty and she seemed to realise that he'd already seen her so covering herself was pointless.

"So…." Red began, searching for some way to change the topic from his lesson. "Um…. How was your winter?"

"Busy."

William smiled at her, before getting to his feet and walking over to pick up the crimson cape she'd dropped bringing it back to her and wrapping it around her shoulders so she could hide her body amid the material. He didn't like to hide her beauty, but he could sense her awkwardness after their chase. While Red covered herself with her cloak, William fetched her yellow dress and gave it to her, along with the little belt that her knife hung from. Giving her time to get dressed with a little privacy, Will turned away from her and walked over to the tree where her knife was imbedded to the hilt inside the touch bark. He glanced over his shoulder at her before he gave the knife I sharp tug, jerking it free

When he bought it back to her, William smiled down at the blue eyed girl.

"Happy Birthday Little Red" he whispered, pulling the now clothed girl against his chest in a warm embrace. Red smiled happily when she buried her face against his chest. She felt the last of her tension slip away as his warmth chased it off, filling her instead with joy at seeing her oldest friend.

"I'm so glad you're finally home" Red told him, still cuddling his close. She smiled when she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head affectionately "I really missed you Will." William squeezed her tightly, letting her know without words just how much he'd missed her too. When he released her, he kept one arm over her shoulders and began to walk with her away through the forest. He had several stops to make before they could return to the village.

"Where are we going?" Red asked not seeming to mind as he steered her through the trees and the gloom.

"I spent most of the winter tripping around, several wolf packs moved into the area hunting elk and the other migrating prey animals. I killed a lot of them, the ones too stubborn to stay away from the village, and others who thought I'd make a tasty meal. But furs of everything I kill are heavy to carry around, so I set up caches throughout the forest, storing the furs out of the snow and weather once they were tanned and fresh. I need to pick them all up to take back to the village. Most folks will have thrown out their old ones after the long winter, so I'll sell the furs and hides. I have some meat I stored unless a bear got to it after hibernation too. And I think the entire village will run me off if I show up dressed like this." William explained "I need to pick up your birthday present too. Since it's hidden away with everything else."

"What did you get me?" Red asked excitedly, knowing William always gave her exciting presents.

"It's a surprise" he told her, grinning down at her. Red grinned back at him. "It's really good to see ye, lass" Will added.

Red laughed "I have to confess something" she told him, unable to keep secrets like he could. William raised his eyebrows curiously "You're not allowed to stay away all winter anymore" Red told him matter-of-factly "I drove Mother crazy. She kept finding me asleep by the fire, and more than once I tried to curl up with her while she was sewing. She was so fed up with me that she sent me off to visit your Mother so she could have some peace."

"She doesn't like you trying to fall asleep on her?" Will asked softly. Red shook her head.

"That's why you're not allowed to be gone all winter. No one else lets me fall asleep curled up on their chest like you do."

William couldn't keep the smile off his face as he looked into her bright blue eyes.

"I even had to resort to pestering father when I'd exhausted my weaving supplies, and he was less than pleased to learn that he hadn't raised a daughter who knew how to hold her tongue. He threatened that if I didn't give him and Mother some peace, he'd seen me married off by my birthday. I spent a lot of the winter with your Mom, helping her with all the folks who came in sick. Lots of the children fell ill during the winter, many of them having to stay in your house to receive constant care. I don't think she minded having me there. She gets lonely when you're away."

Will knew his mother grew lonely in his absence, she had never remarried, the stigma surrounding him affecting her chances, though she often told him she wasn't interested in remarrying anyway, especially when he'd been younger because a husband ran the risk of learning the truth of Will's condition.

"She made a new friend this winter, a traveller stopped in just before the snows set in and they became quite close. I can't wait for you to meet him though I won't tell you anything else about him. I know she's been nervous about you meeting him, so make sure you be nice to him. He's a nice fellow, a little older than her, but he treats her like she's a queen." Red babbled to him as he led her from cache to cache within the forest, gathering up his resources and the many things he had stored during the winter. By the time he led Red back to the path William was dressed respectably and hauling everything they could both carry. His head was filled with all the news and gossip that had occurred in his absence.

"Red" he said softly, pulling her to a stop just before they rounded the last bend that would bring them in sight of the village. She looked up at him curiously while he dug his hand into the pocket of the shirt he now wore. "It's not wrapped, and this is only part of your present, but this is for you." He said to her, holding out his hand and waiting for her to hold hers out beneath it.

Excitedly she held her palms out for her gift and William heard her breath catch as he dropped the bracelet into her hands. During his travels he'd stopped in at a neighbouring sea port village and he had bargained with a merchant for the intricately decorated bracelet. In return for the brightly coloured bracelet with intricate bead work from foreign lands, he had traded three sets of twelve point stag antlers, the pelt of a brown bear, and a live wolf cub but it had been worth it to watch the way Red's eyes lit up.

The bracelet itself was corded, each strand a bright shade of purple, pink, green, red, yellow and blue, and interwoven within the cords were many different types of beads, shells and pieces of polished gemstones and antler and some strange, glittering cubes of a metal called 'gold'. William knew Red would appreciate the artists weaving ability to make each cord and bead show so cleverly. It was a beautiful piece and he loved the way she instantly held it out to him so he could fasten it to her wrist for all to see.

"Will, it's so beautiful. Where on earth did you get it? Oh it must have been so expensive!" She babbled while he fastened it around her slim wrist. In spite of the loads they both carried, she hurled herself into his arms again "Oh thank you so much. I love it!" she exclaimed, bursting with happiness. William smiled to himself. He couldn't wait to show her what else he had bought for her. It wasn't as fancy, but he found another exotic item for his girl while he was away. Red pressed a shy kiss to his cheek and William felt his wolf shift happily. Even though he was only just returning, the full moon was next week and William cursed to know he'd have to leave again so soon.

"You're welcome Lass." He told Little Red in a low voice, wrapping one arm around her waist and trying not to think about how she had looked naked. "Get on now, the sooner we get into the village the sooner I can give you the rest."

Margret the Healer looked out the window of her little cottage with its thatched roof and stone walls. She was expecting her son to finally come home and she was nervous to see him. He'd been gone so long and she had made a wonderful friend of Herbert in his absence. She knew William would be home today, since it was Red's birthday. She had checked the window many times during the morning already, so she was only half paying attention when she noticed the two people wandering down the street with their heavy loads. For a moment Margret almost didn't recognise her eighteen year old son.

He strolled down the street with a little smile on his face and that eerie glow in his green eyes as townsfolk pointed at him and whispered behind their hands. Normally when he returned home, some people were crestfallen that he hadn't stayed gone and more than once it had been wished that he would fall ill or be eaten by a bear in the woods. Usually he would be scowling having walked so deep into the heart of the village, but it took Margret only a moment to work out the reason that her son still smiled. In spite of the load he carried in his arms and on his back, still more had been handed off to the black haired girl in the crimson cape who walked by his side.

Racing for the door, Margret threw it wide and ran out into the street. William saw her coming but she was unable to contain her shriek of happiness as she raced down the street and threw herself into her grown son's arms. William dropped the bundle of furs he carried at Red's feet in preparation to catch his mother, and Red smiled to see the smiles on both of their faces.

"Oh my William" Margaret cried into his shoulder "Oh my boy has finally come home." Red felt her heat give a squeeze, knowing it did William a world of good to know how much he'd been missed.

"Hey Mama," Will murmured to Margret, and Red smiled liking that he still called her that even though he was a grown man. "I missed you."

Margaret cried harder and Red bent down to pick up the bundle William had dropped. She grunted as she hauled it up her body, for it was much heavier than she'd expected. William waved his hand to her, telling her to leave it, but Little Red gritted her teeth and lifted it anyway, knowing Will would have trouble prying his mother loose from his chest for the next few minutes. She carried it up the street and into William's house, breathing in the familiar scent of dried herbs and sage tea. William followed her inside, carrying his sobbing mother. He managed to pry her loose long enough to lower the heavy load from his back to the floor and he watched the way Red pottered about boiling some water and setting some tea leaves to steep. He kind of liked the way she looked so at ease inside his house and he smiled at her over his mother's shoulder when he caught her admiring the bracelet he'd given her.

"Oh baby, you were gone so long, I thought I'd never see you again." his mother cried softly into his shoulder. William had to laugh. More than once he'd had a brush with death this winter, he'd even been mauled by a massive white bear, but the werewolf blood in his veins made him heal too fast to die such a death. The stab wound in his thigh was already gone, even though Red had done it to him just an hour ago.

"You know I'll always come back to you Mama" he told her softly, eyes twinkling at his own joke as he added "Rabid wolves couldn't drag me away." That made his mother hiccup and as she finally released him, Red pressed a cup of what smelled like chamomile tea into her hands.

"As for you, Little Red" his mother sniffled cheerily, "A very happy birthday to you, sweetheart. You grow more beautiful with each new moon." Red blushed as red as her cape at the praise.

"Look what Will gave me for my birthday" she smiled, drawing the attention away from her pretty face and to the beautiful bracelet on her wrist. While his mother oohed and ahhed at the gift, William dug out the other objects for her birthday as well as for his mother's which had been in the winter time. When he cleared his throat both women turned to look at him in surprise.

"Since both of you happened to have birthday's in my absence" he began enticingly "I come bearing gifts."

Margret watched her handsome son and realised he'd been about to say something else, something that might betray the depth of his feelings for the girl in the red cape.

"Mother, since Little Red already has part of her present and it's fun to watch her wait impatiently, I'm going to start with you." He announced, eyes twinkling cheekily. Margret smiled at him fondly, suddenly remembering every moment she'd spent with him since he'd come home a werewolf. She found herself looking speculatively at the young woman next to her. Red was almost old enough to be married, and her father had been talking of marrying her off during the winter. Her beauty would allow him to demand a high bride price, not to mention her skills as a weaver. Margret looked back at her son. He was one of the few young men in the village who might make enough coin to meet such a high bride price and she knew it would destroy her William to see Little Red married to anyone but him. It worried her that he spent so much money and traded valuable things for trinkets for Margret and Red when he ought to be storing it away to pay the bride price for Red someday. Her father would not let her go easily and especially not to William. He would need every advantage.

"This is for you mother. I'm sorry I missed your birthday" William handed a bundle wrapped in soft black wolf fur and she untied it slowly. She gasped at what was inside. He'd bought her a string of pearls and a finely carved set of antler dishes. They bore little carved animals in them, exotic animals from faraway lands with giant ears and long tube-like noses.

"Oh William" she breathed "They're beautiful. What are they?"

"They're called elephants" he told her "They live in faraway lands beyond the seas. Places where it never snows."

William hugged her again before digging out another bundle. It was wrapped in black fur as well, though it looked to be the fur of a black bear rather than a wolf. He silently presented it to Red, who was quivering with excitement. As she unwrapped the bundle, Red gasped in surprise. Inside the black bundle was entirely white. Nestled atop a thick pelt of white fur was a small segment of bone with many little holes drilled into it. Red gasped at the sight of little bone flute, and she almost didn't register the white pelt as she picked up the flute in one hand and bough it to her lips. The sound that came out was a high and sweet and Red beamed happily for she had a love of music. When she turned her attention to what else she held, Red stared in shock.

Lifting the white pelt, she unfurled it and found she wasn't tall enough to display it properly. William took pity on her as she wrestled with it, holding up the corners and lifting it high over his head. It was a least ten foot long and almost the same wide. Soft and black on the tanned side, and fluffy white on the furred side.

"Oh Will, where did you get that?" She asked as he lowered it again so he could smile at her.

"Actually it's the fur from an entirely white bear. The biggest I've ever seen. I happened upon it when I ranged too far north. It thought I might make a nice meal. It almost had me too, before I managed to slit its throat."

"Oh but it's such a shame you had to kill it" Red said "I've never heard of an all white bear before. I would've loved to see it when it was alive. It's incredible as a fur, but imagine what it would be like alive and running around like the bears we see from time to time around here."

"It lived in a place of ice and snow, so it's fur was white for camouflage and incredibly thick to keep it warm as it swam in places where big lumps of ice floated in the sea. You'll never be cold in winter again."

Red smiled at the boy with unruly brown hair that fell to his shoulders and eerie green eyes as he came forwards to wrap her up in the fur he had given her, and realised that if she lived for another hundred years, she would never meet another so wonderful and handsome and sweet as her William.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Little Red was tired of life in the village. Another year had passed and still the people of the village were terrified of the woods. They were all far too paranoid for her liking, and their paranoia drove them to incredible lengths of idiocy. A part of her knew that the laws of the town were designed to keep them all safe; that the paths through the forest were well worn and protected by people like William. There had never been an attack while someone stayed on the path. Red rolled her eyes. It was her father's favourite saying and he often babbled on about the importance of staying on the paths where it was safe.

"The paths are the only safe place in the forests Little Red, no one is ever attacked on the paths. It's only those who stray from the paths that are attacked by the wolves and bears and all the other monsters of the forest."

Red had believed him as a little girl. Every time she'd been to see Grandma before she met William, she always stayed on the paths, childishly believing that right along the edges of the paths, wolves and bears and all kinds of beasts and monsters prowled, ready to swallow a little girl in a red riding hood whole. Father was the one who spouted paranoia, and Mother had fostered the village fear in her own way. She told stories of innocent little girls who wandered off the path and were never seen again, of grown men running into the village screaming and bleeding, sobbing about having been attacked.

That was why being a woodsman or a woodcutter was such a prestigious job. Only brave men volunteered to stray from the paths in order to chop down the trees so that people in the village had logs to build their houses and wood for their fires to keep them warm in the winter time. Only fearless men volunteered to be Woodsmen, those who wandered the woods, keeping the paths and the village safe, protecting the woodcutters and hunting down game as well as any beast that strayed too close to the town. Men like William. Until last week Red had not seen him for many months, his roaming taking him further and further from the village.

His mother, Margret, had remarried to a nice man named Herbert and so she was not so lonely when he was away. Red often missed him, though she had seen him recently. Just last week he had returned to the village, and Red knew he'd asked her Father's permission to marry Little Red. He'd even offered to pay more than the incredibly high bride price Father was asking for her, but Father had still refused him, curling his lip at William and disappointedly saying that he had hoped William had gone off into the forest and died.

Red was still cursing having turned sixteen. Because on her birthday Father had decided to marry her off to Barry the Butcher. Barry was an incredibly unpleasant man, who always reeked of the meat he spent his days hacking up. Red had never liked him; not when they were children, and especially not now that she was old enough for Father to have decided that she ought to marry. Red knew it was because he'd noticed the interest of the village men, and she suspected father feared that if he let her walk around unmarried for too long, the townsmen might imitate the beasts of the forest and attack her.

Mother had explained that Father feared that men within the village might find themselves overcome with desire for her upon seeing her ever-growing beauty, and attempt to lure her somewhere so that she was alone with them. She had explained that first they might try to woo her, to gain her attention and perhaps they might even attempt to convince Red to part her thighs for them. Red wasn't so sure if Father feared that the men might be overcome with lust if Red were to say no and thrown themselves down on top of her, or if he feared that she wouldn't decline their interest in her. Mother had whispered to her that Father feared Red might fall prey to their charms and wind up pregnant out of wedlock. Of course there was only one man Red would even consider for any of those things and Father had brutally turned William down, despite Red's pleas and William offering to pay even more that the ridiculously high pride price Father was asking.

So on the whole, Red was insulted, fed up and feeling particularly stubborn about the idea of being married off to a man she did not like, simply because Father feared she would be incapable of keeping her legs shut. Mother of course had taught her how to deal with gropy boys, and Red knew that the same principle would apply if any man were to be overcome with lust for her. She could defend herself, keeping her honour intact and keeping herself from winding up with child before she had managed to get out of this paranoid little village. William had seen to it that she would never be attacked by anyone successfully, and had taught her last year how to handle a man attacking her.

Red still remembered the way it had felt to be pressed into the soft grass in her clearing beneath William. She'd been naked and he'd been all but naked too. Red remembered how she had quivered with yearning when he'd pressed down upon her, the heat at the centre of his body pressing against the centre of hers. Her body had reacted to having William nestled there and Red wondered how she had tolerated Father's idea of marrying her off to Barry up until now without outright refusing. She could never be happy with anyone but William and she refused to go through with even pretending to tolerate Barry any longer!

If she couldn't have William, then Red wanted to be like Grandma. She wanted to live beyond the realm of the village, deep in the woods where the wolves prowled hungrily. Where Father couldn't decide who she should marry or how she should dress or act or whether or not she could be friends with William. She would gladly take a whole swarm of wolves over Barry, and Red wondered how hard it would be to build herself a house in the forest with wolves prowling around hungrily. At least that was what Father said, that they were stalking behind every tree just waiting for a girl like her to step off the path so they could eat her…. The only wolf Red had ever seen in the woods was the one Grandma had raised from the tiny wolf puppy she had saved during a long cold winter many years ago. His name was Lucky, and he was smaller than other wolves. He had a bent up ear and wide blue eyes. Red loved to visit Grandma because Lucky was always willing to curl up in front of the fire and let Red snuggle up next to him, running her fingers through his long fur as she indulged in books Father didn't approve of.

"Red?" Barry the Butcher grunted at her like the swine he resembled. Mother knew Red didn't like Barry, but Father would not be dissuaded, so Mother had dragged Red over to the hut where Barry butchered things with a basket of freshly baked bread and some cookies.

Red didn't speak to him, choosing instead to stay silent while Mother politely made small talk. Red felt the need to curl her lip in disgust as she looked at Barry. His bright red hair looked orange in contrast to the red splatters of blood on his apron and his face had a nasty pale pallor that was marred by an unfortunate number of freckles that made him look very much like he had the worst case of the pox anyone had ever seen. He also had a habit of indulging in the fermented liquid so many of the men liked to drink; the one that made them all slur and say inappropriate things to any girls who happened by. It often made him smell funny because he drank so much of it, and effects of the liquor had resulted in his prematurely rounded belly jutting out before him wherever he went.

Red had no idea what had possessed her father to think that Barry the Butcher might be a good choice as a husband for her. After all, there were other young men within the village who were much more desirable to Red, namely because they hadn't all spent their childhood following her around her and being cruel to her for no reason. Indeed when father had announced that it was time Red took a husband many of the other men in the town had made a play for her hand, however, due to her beauty and her skill as a weaver, Father had asked a steep dowry for her. Red couldn't believe so few of the men in the village could afford the price and had been insulted to learn that of the ones who could, few were willing to pay such a price for such a young bride.

In spite of that she was surprised that any of them had even bothered to ask, since many of them disdained her association with William. Not to mention that most believed that in spite of Red's father, William and Little Red would someday wed. Many of the men in the village were afraid of what William might do to them if they even looked at Red, let alone considering marrying her or even touching her.

She knew also that of the two men who could afford the dowry, there was Barry the Butcher, and William the Woodsman. William was a much more appealing choice as far as Red was concerned and he held the town's respect because of his dangerous job. He was wild though, as wild as the woods he wandered in. Woodsmen were hunters, among other things. They patrolled the land around the paths, hunted the creatures of the forest, and drove off many of the beasts said to wander the wilds. In fact Red and William were best friends, when he was around. He often camped out in the woods rather than returning to the village each night. Red had first met him when she was seven years old, she had helped him drag a doe home to his mother and they had been best friends ever since. She had found herself intrigued by his wild eyes that seemed to always be scanning and assessing everything for danger or prey, she'd also admired his unruly brown hair that first meeting.

Red just knew that though she thought William was a much more suitable prospective husband, Father did not. Father hated William. He had for many years. William was nineteen now, but he often scoffed at the paranoia of the village and had done since he was much younger. He'd always wandered the woods, even before he'd taken the bow of the Woodsman, always full of life, never contained amid the society of the village that was so cultivated by a fear he did not share. Red suspected it was the wildness of William that Father so detested, and she suspected Father might fear William a little, as did many of the townsfolk especially since William had broken Barry's nose years before in punishment for something Barry had said to Little Red.

It was unnatural, they said, for a boy to be so drawn to the wilderness and the danger where evil beasts roamed freely, prowling for human prey. William's love of the forests made him something of a social outcast, though when he'd taken the Woodsman's Bow, many had set aside some of their fear and distrust of him. After all, he was all that stood between them and their assured destruction. Red rolled her eyes at the words Father had said. William made enough money as a Woodsman that he had been able to afford Red's dowry, but Father had refused him, stating that William had no real home.

A man his age ought to have his own hut or cottage, Father had argued, though William spent so much time in the woods that he hadn't a need for one. Red hadn't believed Father when he told her that while William might have been suitable otherwise, he didn't like the idea of his daughter living alone because her husband was always away from the village, sometimes returning only every few months. She knew it was really just Father's hatred of William that spurred his refusal and she knew that Father was clearly groping for excuses if he had to go with something as foolish as William not owning his own house.

"Red, I'm going to go on home now" Mother told her softly, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze "Be nice and try to get along with him. After all, he will be your husband one day and it will do no good to have him angry at you." She whispered softly before raising her voice and bidding Barry a nice evening.

Red bristled at the abandonment, not at all appreciating the idea of being alone with the vile man before her for any period of time. Barry leered at her in such a way that Red suddenly felt uncomfortable in her summer tunic. It fell to her knees, but the exposure of her calves made her feel vulnerable beneath Barry's unwelcome gaze. She found herself regretting the leather vest she wore over her tunic, because of the way it cinched at her petite waist and pushed her modest cleavage towards the neck line of her dress. It suddenly occurred to her that such an outfit was not a wise choice when she wanted to discourage Barry's interest in her.

Refusing to cringe before him, but uncomfortable beneath his gaze, Red drew the light summer weighted cloak with a hood the hung down her back over her shoulders and wrapped it around herself loosely, concealing her supple body from his hungry gaze. Barry smirked at her actions, clearly enjoying that he made her uncomfortable.

"Brought me some fresh baked bread and cookies, did ya?" He drawled at her, clomping closer so he could take her hand. Red tensed up as Barry's sweaty palm clasped hers and he bent forward to press a kiss to her skin. It took everything she had not to shudder in revulsion.

"Much obliged" he said in a voice he must have assumed was seductive.

"Barry, why did you ask Father for my hand?" Red asked him coldly, drawing her hand out of his and taking several steps back "You know very well that I could never come to care for you as a wife should for her husband. You don't even like me. Your only interest resides in tormenting me, and let me tell you that as a wife I will not put up with such rude and callous behaviour."

Barry glared at her, his meat cleaver clutched in his free hand. Red watched him warily but she made the mistake of glancing around when she heard the creak of wood, expecting someone to come in and save her from the vile creature Father expected her to tolerate, let alone marry. Before she had the time to scream, Barry lunged at her. His empty hand wrapped around her face cutting off any sound she might make, almost making her gag from the strong scent of dried blood and raw meat. Her slim body was suddenly pressed back against a flabby belly and barrel chest and Red wanted to scream in indignant revulsion when he lowered his face to bury his nose in the slender curve of her neck and inhale her feminine scent.

The cleaver he clutched pressed gently against her throat as Barry growled in her ear "I'll not tolerate a wife with no respect. You'll hold your tongue on any thought you might have, or I might see to it that it's cut out" Red felt fear flicker through her veins at his threat "'Sides, it ain't just tormentin' that ya interest me for Little Red" Barry added and Red held very still as his sweaty, meaty hand slipped off her face and down the front of her tunic.

His squashy fingers caressed the skin at the tops of her breasts and this time Red did shudder in revulsion.

"Let go of me Barry" She snapped, ignoring the sharp blade he had pressed to her throat as she elbowed him in the ribs and leapt out of his embrace as he bent over in shock and pain.

"You little bitch" he snarled angrily, beady eyes fixing on her as she hurried for the door. He made to follow her and Red pulled her reed dagger from her belt, the one she used to cut grasses and reeds and twigs to shape and size them for weaving her baskets. She held it out in front of her threateningly.

"Barry if you ever touch me again, so help me I'll cut off the fingers you use to do it" Red told him quietly. She wasn't the pathetic little girl she had once been, and she would not be manhandled by anyone, least of all this pig. "I suggest you withdraw your offer for my dowry Barry, or so help me I will see to it that you are dead before you can lay a finger on me."

Barry looked slightly startled at her threat, before he sneered "Nice threats Little Red… you'd rather Wildman Willy to a respectable Butcher as a husband then?" his sarcasm and the unaffectionate nickname for William made it clear that he thought she was an idiot if she possibly did, though his smug expression suggested that he doubted she could ever prefer William to himself.

"I'd prefer Old Frank with his missing teeth and warts, as a husband than you, Butcher. But William is the only man worthy of me" Red hissed at him "You are vile and disgusting; a pathetic excuse for a man, with no backbone and a body that repulses even the ugliest of women. I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth! Go to my father and tell him you don't want me Barry, or you'll be dead within hours of any marriage between you and I.… If not by my hand then most certainly by William's." She threatened before spinning on her heels and stalking out of his hut.

Red heard a crash and a lot of cursing behind her as she hurried through the village streets. By the time she reached the edge of the forest she was running, and sticking to the paths, Red ran all the way, deep into the forest until she skidded to a walk in the garden of Grandma's cottage. Red let the tall wooden gate slam behind her, so Grandma would know she was here.

For just a moment Red paused to admire Grandma's cottage. It was made entirely of stone, built over many years by Grandpa before he had passed away a few years ago. The thatched roof was quaint, and the little door was locked tightly whenever Grandma was inside. The high fence that surrounded her cottage and garden were strong and sturdy, made entirely of wood and laden with brambles to deter any beasts that might otherwise try to climb it. After all, the paranoia might be out of control and extreme, but there was nothing wrong with ensuring one's safety when one lived alone, deep in the heart of the woods.

"Who's there?" Grandma called gruffly from inside the door.

"It's me Grandma, Little Red." Red called as she admired the bright red poppies in Grandma's garden.

When the door opened, Lucky burst out to jump up and lick Red's chin and he whined happily. Grandma was slightly stooped but strong and Red smiled to see the woman wearing a tunic made from the same fabric as Red's hooded cloak. As she leaned in to hug her Grandma, Red was obliviously unaware of the eyes watching her from the darkness of the forest, hidden in the shadows of the trees where one on the path would not see.

Many hours later, Red looked out the window of Grandma's cottage to see that night was falling.

"You best be getting home my Dear" Grandma said kindly. She had provided a lovely distraction to Red's anguish over Father forcing her into a marriage with an evil man, and for several hours they had sat together talking while Red weaved and Grandma sewed. They had discussed what a vile being Barry the Butcher was, and Father's unfairness and bias against William. They had even discussed William who apparently had not visited Grandma for many moons. Grandma was worried that he had befallen some ill fate, but Red had seen him two days ago when he had come to her home, seeking her father's approval and acceptance as a suitor for Red.

"Must I Grandma?" Red asked sadly "Mother tries to be sympathetic, but she can do nothing against Father's word. I can't bear to share his house any longer when he has no regard for my happiness. He is thinking only of himself, trying to force me to marry that pig. Mother told me Father fears that men will be overcome with lust and force themselves upon me, leaving me to carry their child out of wedlock. He is being utterly ridiculous, since any man, even one who might force himself upon me would be better than Barry the Butcher."

"Just today a man tried to force himself on you my dear" Grandma reminded her gently "He is not being ridiculous in his idea, though he is a rogue for taking advantage of your beauty to ask such a high price. Is there nothing we can do to persuade him that William is a wiser choice?"

"I wish there were Grandma, but he is prejudiced because Will has always so loved the woods. I think Father fears William's lack of fear for the forest. You know he is incredibly paranoid. How am I going to tell him that I utterly refuse to marry Barry? That if I can't marry William I won't marry anyone at all and will simply run away and live somewhere deep in the forest where no one will ever find me? Father will go mad! He might even beat me" Red said.

Grandma nodded sadly "He might darling, but I think it would be the right thing to do. If you stay in the village and don't marry that vile creature, then your father will surely see you beaten. But if you stay are marry him, as you have said, you will murder him before he can lay another finger on you, if William doesn't get there first. We can't let that happen, you would be hanged for murder. You will simply have to tell them that is how you feel, pack your things and come to live with me until you can find somewhere that your father will never find you…..In any case you must get home. You're father will send out the whole village searching for you if you don't. You'll have to run Dear, paranoia is one thing but brother wolf has been about of late and the woods are not safe after dark." Grandma said as she all but pushed Red out the door. "Be safe Little Red, you're always welcome here Dear. I love you" Grandma called as Red unlatched the gate.

Red waved as she closed it and she listened to the sound of Grandma locking herself safely inside her stone house. Dusk had fallen and stars had begun to wink overhead as Red began to jog towards home.

William had been looking for Red all afternoon, using his werewolf nose to track her all over the village as he searched. He needed to bid her goodbye. The full moon was just two days away and Will knew that if he didn't get far, far away from the village, he would likely attack the town in his werewolf shape, murdering Barry the Butcher and Red's father. He'd already been fighting the urge to do just that since he'd been refused as a suitor for Little Red and he knew he would have to stay gone a very long time, possibly forever if he wanted to keep from murdering both men and anyone else who got in the way of him having Red forever.

He had looked everywhere and still hadn't managed to find her. It was making him angry, mostly because he didn't want to leave her at all. He wanted to take her away with him, but he knew it would be wrong to do so. Will looked up at the sky as the last light of the day began to fade and he wondered where on earth his girl could be when he heard the howl. Long and drawn out, filled with the excitement of a hunt, a wolf called to its pack, announcing that easy prey had been found and a meal was soon to be had. William cursed, knowing that the howl was far too close to the village and he was already running in the direction of the sound when he heard another that stilled his heart.

Something was amiss. Red could tell from the minute she left the safety of Grandma's cottage that something was not right. Something stirred in the dark forest and Red picked up the pace as she raced down the wide, open path as it wound towards the village. If she didn't hurry she would be locked out since the village had a high wall in place to keep them all safe from the evil creatures of the forest. Night birds called to one another and Red told herself it just seemed so dark because the forest seemed to crowd closer to the path.

She could feel the familiar prickle at the back of her neck that told her there was a predator watching her, but this time it felt different. In the past the feel of a predator watching her hadn't quickened her heart or made her feel like prey, but tonight she felt like there was something hungrily stalking her steps. Red tried to tell herself it was just because of the fight she'd had with Barry, who happened to be known for his explosive temper, and that she was letting the paranoia of the village get to her because the darkness of the forest seemed so close tonight. After all, it wasn't like there would be anything in the forest hunting her when William was home and would be regularly scouting the area, driving off anything that shouldn't be so close to the village.

She had almost convinced herself that the only thing stalking her was her own fear of someday soon living in the dark forest alone, when she heard the sound of something moving behind her. Red yearned to stop and look at what creature might be hunting her, curiosity always being her downfall. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and Red cursed when a sharp stone on the path dug into her bare foot painfully. The sound of scuffling came from behind her again and Red cursed that her run was slowed by her limp. She knew that she had cut herself when she felt dirt and twigs begin to stick to her bare foot and Red cursed again to know that she had been so careless. It was just like her to walk around the village barefoot in the summer, but when she went to Grandma's she always wore shoes. Today she hadn't because she had fled there and now she was paying the price.

Given the sound of whatever it was that was behind her and the fact that she was now leaving an easy to follow blood trail, Red morbidly laughed at the idea that it might be a steeper price than ever before.

Red nearly jumped out her skin when she heard the howl of a wolf. It seemed to come from directly behind her and Red couldn't contain her scream. Eyes straining in the dim light, she peered over her shoulder as she limped along at a hopping kind of run and Red felt her heart squeeze in fear. At the bend in the path behind her stood a wolf, head tilted back as it howled at the moon. She'd seen Lucky a hundred times, yet the sight of the much larger wolf so close behind her and on the path had Red screaming in utter terror.

She was bleeding and limping, out after dark, and now she was likely to become wolf chow! The only thing worse would be actually marrying Barry the Butcher! Every fearful nightmare she had had as a child about the beasts of the forest came flooding back to her and Red stumbled as she tried to run faster when fear took over. The curse she uttered came out as a scream as Red stumbled on her feet, falling to her hands and knees. She felt the gravel of the path bite into her skin, tearing it away and making her bleed even more, but she scrambled back to her feet and kept on running. Trying her best to ignore the pain, Red knew that if she stayed down the wolf would leap upon her and kill her; Rip her apart and eat her so she would never be found.

Just when she thought she might be safe, Red tripped on a tree root that had crept across the path as it sought water beneath the ground. This time she fell much harder, her ankle twisting painfully while pain bit into her already stinging, torn-up hands and knees. The howl of the wolf came from behind her again and Red screamed when she heard another wolf answer the first, this time the howl coming from off to the left. Red whimpered when she tried to get up again, the dirt and stones biting into her torn hands and then into her knees when her ankle refused to hold her weight.

Wolf paws thudded loudly on the path behind her and Red turned to see the grey wolf bearing down upon her at a dead run. Instinctively she threw her arms up to protect her neck and face when the wolf leapt at her and Red shrieked in pain as sharp fangs tore into the soft flesh of her forearms while it's claws tore at the fabric of her tunic. Writhing in pain Red fumbled for the dagger in her belt with the hand that didn't have fangs buried in it and she managed to get a loose grip on it. The pain in her arms where the wolf bit her as it snarled and shook it head from side to side trying to tear her open or get at her belly or throat blocked out the pain in her torn palm and Little Red buried her dagger in the wolf's ribs, by some miracle feeling it slide between ribs. With a sharp slash and twist of her wrist, Red felt something inside the wolf give way beneath the wickedly sharp blade of her reed knife and it yelped in shock and pain at the return attack.

Snarling was replaced by whimpering as the wolf dropped her arm, backing away from her as she screamed again and swiped at it with her dagger. Red scrabbled towards the tree whose root she had fallen over, her ankle a dull throb compared to the burning feel of torn flesh her arm exuded still watching the wolf as it staggered back some more, clearly affected by whatever damage she had done to it. She could swear there was a strange, reluctant acceptance in its yellow eyes as it stumbled and fell to the ground, body succumbing to its injuries. Red felt a mixture of relief and sadness as the wolf laid its head down and sighed out its final breath.

Just as she managed to get her back up against a tree, the second wolf to have howled sprung out of the forest opposite her tree and Red wasn't fast enough to get her abused arm or her dagger up to block the attack this time. She bore the brunt of the attack on her bent up knees while the wolf closed its jaws in a snap around her face. She hadn't been quick enough to lift her arms but she had ducked her head to protect her throat, and Red almost regretted it.

The feel of hot stinky wolf breath assaulted her seconds before the pain of having a wolf bite into her face registered in Red's adrenaline filled brain. It was unbearable and instinctively she grappled with the snarling beast trying to pry it off. Several times her dagger found it's mark and the wolf yelped but it didn't back off. She had just drawn back her dagger again meaning to drive it into the wolf's eye when the grip of it's jaws slackened seconds before it the heavy weight of the animal was ripped away from her. Fresh snarling filled the air and Red screamed in agony as the wolf's fangs tore free of her face. When she heard a loud yelp Red's eyes flew open, terrified of this new creature that had saved her, but possibly so it could eat her instead.

She couldn't see in the dark, except for the silhouette but as soon as she registered it to be human Red began to sob.

"Are ya alright lass?" a gruff voice called, and Red cried harder as fear and pain overtook the adrenaline in her system now that she was safe. She felt rough hands on her knees, gently forcing them down away from her ravaged face and Red heard the man gasp quietly at whatever damage he was able to see in the dark.

"Little Red?" he asked, astonished. Clearly he had not expected it to be her on the path so close to the village being attacked by the wolves that she'd never seen before today. Something inside her shocked mind recognised his voice as familiar and Red stared through puffy eyes at her saviour. There was something familiar about his unruly long hair.

"Will?" Red gasped, shocked to have him save her since father had refused him as a suitor, yet unsurprised since he was one of the village's two Woodsmen.

"Aw lass, look what they done to ye" he murmured, his gruff voice suddenly tender as his hand brushed down her neck, clearly too afraid of hurting her to touch her ravaged face. Red sobbed even harder when he slipped his arms beneath her, hoisting her into the air. Red cried out at the way the movement jostled her twisted ankle and her clawed body and bitten, ravaged arms.

"Little Red, they're both dead now, but I need you to sit right in the middle of the path here while I tie their carcasses together so I can haul them back to the village. You're not gonna bleed to death or nothin', just sit tight darlin' and we'll have ye better soon, eh?" William told her and even as she cried Red felt better having him there. They had been friends for many years and there was no one Red trusted more to keep her safe than her William. She couldn't quite believe that he was really here, saving her life even though he wasn't allowed to marry her. She hadn't admitted it, not even to herself really, but Red had been thrilled when Mother had told her that William had asked Father for her hand in marriage and she had been outraged at Father since he had refused Will. It made no sense that he would be here saving her though. He hadn't spoken to her when he'd left her house two nights ago, silently if angrily bearing the news of Father's refusal.

The look in his eyes had scared even her and Red had been surprised that her father had enough backbone to still refuse will when his eyes had turned so feral and predatory with anger.

"Can ye walk lass?" he asked softly, his hand brushing down her back several minutes later.

"I twisted something when I fell, and my foot is torn open. I think the blood drew them to attack, and I was running anyway because it was getting dark and I didn't want to get locked out of the village. Father will have the whole town looking for me." Red said thickly as she tried to rein in her tears and bite her lip against the pain. "Mostly because he'll be wanting to thrash me for telling Barry that I'd rather be hung for his murder than marry him. I told him that if he didn't withdraw his offer for my dowry I'd kill him, and that if I didn't manage it, you would. He was mad and he groped me while he held a meat cleaver to my throat, so I threatened him and then I ran for it. The only place I could think of was Grandma's. But I didn't have shoes on and when I left it was getting dark. I could feel something watching me, like I always do, but this time it felt sinister. Then I cut my foot and saw the wolf."

Red babbled, knowing that she was going into shock over the ordeal, not just because she had almost died but also because she had taken the life of another creature. She'd never done that before and it made her feel a little sick in the tummy and a little light-headed, though that could be the pain.

"I killed it Will….. it attacked me and I threw up my arms, but I had my knife….. I don't know how I got the blade between its ribs, but when I did I started slashing it around. I felt its flesh give way, and then it let me go. I thought I would be safe…. But wolves always travel in packs…. I forgot that bit. I wasn't fast enough to stop the other one….. My face really hurts Will…"

Will scooped her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest, staring down at the girl he was in love with as he listened to her babble. He'd only been half listening until she'd said the thing about slicing into what was probably the wolf's heart with her little dagger….. he couldn't get his own attack as a child out of his mind and suddenly Will stared at the girl he held, filled with shock and horror. If she'd really killed the wolf that way, just as he had done as a boy…. Red was going to become a werewolf!

The wolf inside his chest wanted to howl in happiness but as he looked at Little Red, William realised several things at once. She was going to have to leave the village now. It would be much too obvious if she suddenly took to the woods as he had done as a boy after he'd been attacked, and the full moon was just two days away. She wouldn't have time to mentally prepare for what was going to happen to her, and the wolves that had attacked her had done a number on her. Strips of flesh had been torn from her arms and deep scratches showed on her legs. Her dress was torn open and she bled from the stomach and her thighs. Her chest was protected by the leather vest she wore, but her face was in a critical condition. She was lucky the wolf bite hadn't crushed her cheekbones, but as it was she would have bruises and her face would never be the same. Chunks of flesh hung off her raggedly, her left cheek nothing but a mess that resembled ground beef.

If she truly was going to become a werewolf, the skin would heal but some scars went too deep not to scar and Red would have a scar on her face for the rest of her life. Making a snap decision that would probably get him hanged unless he pulled it off just right, William began to stride away from the village. Red was almost passed out from the pain that had to be throbbing through her face, and she didn't object when Will started to walk.

"Are ye alright lass? Really?" he asked her softly as he strode along.

"The paths are the only safe place" Red ground out bitterly, trying not to wince at each throb of her face, arms, foot and each of the scratches on her body. "No one is ever attacked on the path." Red didn't know where it came from, but a little bubble of laughter escaped her chest as she started to laugh at Father's preposterous promises. "My father is an idiot!" she giggled, overcome with hysteria at the irony of having been attacked by two wolves on the path where she had been taught she would be safe, after never seeing a wolf in the forest before in her life, only to be saved by the Woodsman her father had refused as Red's suitor.

She must have been overcome by pain because Red couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth next.

"I wanted it to be you, Will." She whispered, her dagger still clutched in her hand even as she reached up and brushed her fingers over the wounds on her face "Father refused because of your reputation, even though I pleaded with him to pick you. He's stupid for not doing it, and for asking for such a high bride price." Red laughed some more "Now no one will want me at all…." She whispered as she felt the crusted blood on her cheeks and tasted it on her tongue. Red let her head fall sideways against his warm chest while she chuckled hopelessly. A sob escaped her and just before her mind put her to sleep she whispered "Even before Father was ready to marry me off…. I always wanted it to be you he'd pick for me."

Will didn't know if she heard him as he replied "I'll always want you, lass."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Will raced through the forest in wolf form, back towards the village. Night had fallen and he moved far too swiftly for anyone to see him. Using his werewolf speed and strength Will leapt up on top of the wall surrounding the village and then vaulted down inside the village walls, still shaped like a massive wolf. He was thankful that it had taken him so long to get Red to safety, taking her to the house he'd built for himself deep in the forest.

It wasn't entirely finished yet, which was why he hadn't used it as a bargaining chip with Red's father, as well as the fact that it was so far into the woods that walking there in human form took a full day. She still hadn't woken when he'd laid her down on his bed, and Will had made sure there was cooked food ready for her nearby, knowing that if she did wake up a werewolf in his absence, she would be starving.

He hated having left her there alone, though she would be safer there than she was in the village. Even prey animals tried to avoid the territory around his house, knowing that a ruthless werewolf called the place home. No bear or wolf or lion or any other creature was foolish enough to enter the heart of his territory, so she would be safe from any further animal attack. But Will didn't like to leave her there, knowing that if he didn't heal her, her face would scar terribly. Which was why he now crept through the silent empty streets of the village to his mother's door.

When he reached it, Will shifted back to human and knocked softly, hoping it wouldn't seem strange to Herbert, his mother's husband, that Will wore only torn up shorts. Not waiting for a reply, William opened the door and let himself inside.

"William?" his mother's voice asked curiously. She rushed towards him, frowning in concern and Will looked down realising that he was covered in Red's blood.

"Mama, I need your help." Will said softly, watching Herbert over his mother's head. He liked the man, but if they were going to make Red disappear, even temporarily to give her time to get used to being a werewolf, they needed the whole village to think she had run away.

"Baby what is it? You haven't seen Red have you? Her family is going crazy with worry. No one has seen her since this morning when her mother left her to make peace with Barry. Barry reports she threatened him and left in a hurry. They've sent some people to check and see if she's gone to her grandmother's but everyone is worried. We all heard the howls and the screaming coming from the forest and I'm sorry to say some people are fearing the worst."

"Mama" Will tried again, silently urging the woman to understand the long forgotten codes they used to talk about his condition without letting anyone know what was going on "I really need your help." He said firmly and Will watched understanding light up in her eyes.

"Herbert, darling," she said, turning to her husband "Would you mind running over and checking in with Red's family. Could you let them know that Will is home and hasn't seen Red? I need to stitch up a nasty cut on Will's arm." Margret said smoothly, lying to her husband with practiced ease.

William wondered if Herbert knew he was being dismissed, but the man smiled broadly at the idea of doing anything useful to help his wife and he hurried out the door, pausing only to press a kiss to Margret's cheek.

"What's happened Will?" Margret asked quickly as soon as he was gone. "Why are you covered in blood and dressed in so little?"

"Mama, you heard the wolf howls and the screaming…." Will began before realising how bad that sounded given his ability to turn into a wolf "It was Red, Mama, a pair of them attacked her on the path as she ran back from her grandmother's."

Margret's face filled with horror and sadness.

"I got there in time, she's alive. She was trying to fight them off. She killed the first one, but I got the second… Mama, she sliced into its heart with her knife…." Will said gravely. Margret frowned.

"Isn't that a good thing?" she asked after a moment of silence, clearly confused by the serious tone in Will's voice.

"That's how I killed that wolf I bought home to you, Mama…. That night, that was how I killed it before I turned into a werewolf…."

Margret's face turned to an expression of horror.

"You think Red's going to be like you?"

"Yes" Will sighed heavily "I took her to my house…. With the full moon just two days away and the way she'll heal too fast from the attack I couldn't risk bringing her back here. But I need your help. The second wolf bit into her face and when I tackled it, its fangs all but tore chunks right out of her cheeks. She's in bad shape, I need you to come with me and help me heal her."

"But it's such a long walk, William, at night in the dark. We won't get there to do much good for her, not if she really is going to be like you. She'll heal herself by the time I can get there."

"And when she des she'll have terrible scars on her face, Mama. It's Red, the most beautiful girl in the world. She can't be scarred so badly or she'll be ashamed to go out in public. You need to work you magic on them like you did on me to keep me from scarring badly enough for it to be obvious."

"We won't get there in time."

"We will, but… Mama, I know you hate it when I turn into a wolf, but I can carry you faster that way. You've ridden a horse before… it wouldn't be much different. Please…. For Red… for me, please Mama." William begged her as though he were still a five year old boy instead of a grown man.

Margret stared at him fearfully for a moment even as her hands travelled to her healing herbs and concoctions.

"There are people everywhere. How will we get out of the village without being seen?" She asked her son, swallowing her fear and locking it away.

"I can jump the wall." Will told her.

"Oh stars, I think we'd best get into the shadows quickly and I had best strap myself to you, otherwise I'm bound to fall off. Come on, baby, let's go and help you girl."

* * *

When Red next woke she was in an unfamiliar house and the nasty scent of healing herbs filled her nose. The scent of them was overwhelming and Red coughed as she tried to get a clean breath. Her body felt funny all over and she had no idea where she was. The last thing she could really remembered was watching that grey wolf stumble away from her before it laid down, yellow eyes resigned as the life left them forever.

Red tensed as she heard the crackling sound of a fire and soft shuffling sounds. Sitting up suddenly Red felt her eyes scan the cabin, coming to rest on the only living inhabitants. For just a moment Red felt the inexplicable urge to leap at them and before she really knew what she was doing she realised she was crouch on a soft bed layered heavily with animal furs.

"Little Red, you're ok Lass" a familiar voice assured her, sounding incredibly gravelly and a little bit guttural…. William…. She'd know his voice anywhere. To Red the sound of Will's voice was calming, like the sound of running water. It made her feel like she was wrapped in a warm blanket, safe from anything and everything, completely an utterly content.

"Oh William, honey, you were right. That crouch, the glowing in her eyes. She's just like you now." Margret said softly, sounding a little resigned but sort of pleased too. "We better get some food into her, you were starving when you changed…. I'll set some stew to heat up. You look after her, she looks ready to panic."

"Will…. Where am I? What is on my face? It smells disgusting. Why do all these furs smell like you?" Red gasped as she heard the gravelly sound of her own voice.

"Red, do you remember being attacked by the wolves in the forest on your way back to the village?" Will asked her, moving towards her slowly as though he was afraid to spook her.

"There was a wolf following me… it bit me, but I killed it. It looked sort of sad when I killed it." She nodded.

"Baby…. When you came home to me, the last thing you remembered was the wolf whose heart you'd sliced into. You couldn't tell me what had happened to the rest of the pack or how you'd gotten home. Only that the wolf had looked sad when it died and that you'd bought it home to me, needing to give me the pelt." Margret said to her son slowly.

"The death of the wolf must be the moment when the change begins" Will agreed "and everything after that is forgotten until one wakes up a werewolf….. Little Red, you were attacked by two wolves. You killed one of them by severing its heart with your knife, I killed the other one, but it chewed on you face some before I got there. That's why there are herbs on your face, so you won't scar badly. The furs on the bed smell like me, because I bought you to my house."

Red shook her head slowly "No, I've been to you house lots of times. It doesn't look like this at all. You house has lofts for sleeping in, and a big open space with a huge fire and kitchen and washroom downstairs. It's cosy and filled with herbs. This place isn't like that. The bed is at the end of the room instead of in a loft, and it's long like a log instead of square and open. Where are we?"

"It's my house lass. I built it myself. Out in the forest where no one can find it, far away from the village."

"But…. But you live in the village…."

Will smiled at her, moving over until he sat on the edge of the bed next to the crouched girl. "Not anymore Lass. I'm a grown man, with my own house to live in. And since I don't work in the village, it makes no sense to have a house there. This house is where I can use it while I patrol as a Woodsman…. But Red, we bought you here because you were hurt, and because something has happened to you. Do you feel different?"

Red thought about it for a little while. "My voice sounds funny…. And I feel like it would make more sense to sit like you are, but crouching here feels… safer. My body feels funny too. Did those wolves try to eat me…. Why is your house so bright?"

"…. Little Red, when you killed that wolf, you triggered a transformation inside of you. For the rest of your life, you're going to turn into a werewolf every full moon." Will told her, voice guttural and gravelly and sending little shivers down Red's spine.

"Will, don't be silly. Werewolves don't exist. I thought you didn't buy into all that nonsense father spouts. There aren't any fantastical beasts haunting our village. Have you ever seen a dragon or a fairy? Have you seen a witch? I've certainly never seen a werewolf." Red said, recalling the beasts and monsters from the book father kept, many of them spoke of uncontrollable beasts and Red had read them many times as a girl. She remembered even being excited at the idea that such creatures might exist, hoping to one day meet a fairy.

"You're looking at one" William replied gruffly. Red froze. What was he talking about? Surely he couldn't be trying to tell her he was a werewolf. They were supposed to be great slavering beasts that would explode into rages and wipe out entire villages and towns during a full moon. William had certainly never done anything like that, and Red had seen him all but naked. He definitely didn't have a tail hidden down the back of his trousers.

"What are you talking about?" Red growled.

"You're a werewolf now too. Look at you arm Red" rolling her eyes, Red held her arm out in front of herself, looking down at it. She almost gagged when she caught sight of it. The bones were elongated and out of shape.

"The full moon is in two days. When the moon rises, you're going to turn into a werewolf, just like I do every full moon. You'll sprout fur all over you and become something that is neither entirely wolf, but definitely not human anymore either and you'll have an urge to run and hunt so badly that you'll break through anything that gets between you and the forest. You'll grow a tail and paws, your body will change shape even more than it has now."

"Why are you saying this?" Red asked, still horrified by the shape of her arm.

"Because it's the truth and the sooner you accept it the soon you will understand the ramifications of being a werewolf, and deal with going through the change."

"So you really believe you're a werewolf?" Red asked him doubtfully, still not believing it to be true in spite of the way she could hear and smell a rabbit poking around the woodpile she could smell outside the house.

"You're going to make me prove it aren't you?" Will said, sounding irritated and amused at the same time.

"Mama, is the food ready yet?" Will called over his shoulder to the woman Red had almost forgotten was there. Margret was watching them as she stirred a pot of stew by the fire.

"Almost. Just a little longer, though I don't doubt you two would willingly eat it cold. Go ahead and show her so that we can move on to her understanding everything."

"You believe him?" Red asked Margret, shocked to hear it.

"Of course I do, honey. When he was a little boy a pack of wolves attack us. They ran off with him and I thought he was dead. Hours later he woke me up looking subhuman, covered in blood and dirt and stew I'd left by the fire. He was only five years old. When I lost him that morning he had straight, fine hair, cut short and he was maybe three feet tall. When he came back he looked like a twelve year old boy, his soft hair had turned coarse and thick and tangled, and his eyes glowed like the eyes of a predator. Just like yours are Little Red. You're a werewolf now sweetheart."

"Watch me Red" Will commanded, drawing her attention away from his mother. Red stared at the boy who had been her friend for so long, but as she did, he seemed to go blurry. His body rippled and curved, sending him to his hands and feet on the floor. When she blinked, he'd become a wolf.

Big and thickset, he had thick brown fur and looked just like a real wolf. He had a tail and paws and big wolf ears on top of his head. His face had elongated into the muzzle of a wolf and he had a mouthful of sharp fangs.

"My what big teeth you have" Red breathed, staring at him with a mixture of horror and awe. Her best friend was a werewolf. Could it really be true that she was a werewolf as well?

Before her eyes, William transformed back into a human man and Red stared up at him, not knowing what to say.

"Can I do that too?" she asked softly. William smiled at her.

"Probably not for a while. It takes a lot of restraint to be able to harness the energy of the transformation at the full moon and be able to become a real wolf. The werewolf shape is half and half. Half man and half wolf. The be human is our natural state, but being a wolf is not. It took me two years before I could fully transform into a wolf, and even longer to learn how to do so at will. I got stuck as a wolf several times. Mama had to hide me in the house so that the townsfolk wouldn't mistake me for a regular wolf and fill me with arrows."

Slowly Red nodded, moving slowly forwards, off the bed and over to Will, her nose breathing in the familiar woodsy scent of him.

"William, I'm Hungry."

Over the next two days, Red's body seemed to adapt to the changes happening with at an alarming rate. She felt constantly hungry and William explained many things, such as the reason he spent so much time in the forest. Most times he hunted for food to keep himself fed enough for his body to keep up with the changes. By the afternoon of the day the moon would be full, Red had learned to hunt the way William had, using her heightened sense and strength to bring down prey.

Many things about her friend became clear and Red realised that she'd never put it together before that when Will's voice turned so guttural it was hard to understand him and he took off for days when they'd been children, it had always been at the full moon. She now understood the way he'd fearlessly bounded into the woods, his sense telling him whether or not there were any other animals nearby.

"My parents must be going crazy worrying about me." Red said as she paced up and down inside Will's house. She was still hungry and getting hungrier by the minute but Will wouldn't let her out of the house to hunt until the moon had risen, telling her that the change beneath the moon would make her run and run and run. He'd never been near another werewolf, so he wanted to make sure that when she ran, he could follow or run right along with her.

"I'd imagine so. The whole village heard the howling and you screaming when you were attacked and I'm sure that by now they've found the spot where you were attacked. They won't find the wolves, since I bought them back here and skinned them, and obviously you're alive so they won't find a body, but they probably believe you're dead. We'll have to think of something to tell them… since telling them you're a werewolf isn't an option. We could tell them you ran for it and hid out in a cave, lost in the forest and that it took me a while to find you…. If you want to go back?"

Red looked at William. She wasn't sure if she did want to go back. If everyone thought she was dead, there would be no need to deal with her father or Barry or anything else. Instead she could just stay here with William forever… but if she did that her grandmother would die believing it was her fault Red never returned. Grandma had pushed her out the door into the dark and she'd been attacked on the paths. And Red would miss her mother terribly, and William would still have to return to the village to see his mother. It would be a very lonely existence if she pretended to be dead.

"I have to go back." Red sighed "But this changes everything. I had no intention of letting Father force me into marry Barry, but now if he tries I can just make sure Barry is never seen or heard from ever again." Will grinned at her toothily, his fangs beginning to extend and sharpen as the sun went down.

"Now you're thinking like a werewolf" he murmured to her "And if you go back, what then Little Red?"

Red tipped her head sideways, wondering what he meant, before she caught sight of the heat in his eyes. The heat she'd seen the day he'd found her naked in the pond. Something hot and shivery spiked through Red as suddenly remembered the way it had felt to have him pinning her down, his body aligning with hers and branding her with heat.

"You tell me William… what then?" she asked, looking into his green eyes. Red wondered when it was that she'd gone and fallen in love with him. She'd been his friend so long, and she supposed she'd loved him almost from the beginning, when she first looked at his wild hair and eerie eyes and his long, sinewy body. He was tall and strong, but William was wiry, his muscles long and thin, belying his incredible werewolf strength. He'd spent most of the last two days wearing only shorts, not bothering with a shirt because changing shapes apparently made maintaining a supply of clothing difficult. Red couldn't think exactly when it was that she'd stopped thinking of him as just her friend but as hers. Because in her mind William belong to her, just as she felt she belonged to him.

He made her feel safe and content, he made her laugh and there had never been anyone in her life who had taken as good care of her as William did. He looked after her, worried about her, even bought her fancy things when he went away. Whenever Red had pictured her life as she'd grown, William had always been right there beside her. Even when he went away for months at a time, it always felt like he was with her, bounding along beside her, so full of life and energy that she couldn't keep from loving him.

"I don't know…. I never actually asked you how you felt before I asked your father if I could marry you…." Will told her. Unlike Red, he wasn't pacing, but instead sat on his bed seeming to prefer the softness of it to that of the wooden chairs around the table. He watched her hungrily, feeling the hunger of the werewolf gnawing at his insides as the moon rose, and the hunger of his wolf to have Red all his own. As he watched her, he also felt the hunger of a man for his woman. In spite of the rising moon, he had to fight himself not to lure her into bed with him where he could have his way with her until neither of them could walk straight or see straight anymore.

Red smiled at him, her eyes glowing the eerie blue of the predator she had become. William felt his heart beat a little faster when he saw the heat simmering there as her eyes travelled over his bare chest.

"It was always going to be you Will" Red murmured to him, "I couldn't stay away from you if I tried. Father knows it, and I think that's why he said no to you. He knows deep down that you're not just a boy trying to take his daughter, and he hates you for it…. But there couldn't be anyone else for me. Even if I let him push me into a marriage with someone else, I'd wind up right here in this house with you." Red grinned "Who else would let me sleep on their chest all winter?" she teased gently.

Will felt his heart start to race at her words, feeling it swell happily at knowing she would always be his. He'd been in love with her since he was twelve years old, and to hear her tell him that there could be no one else for her… it was like she'd just granted his only wish.

Red started to giggle and Will felt his eyes drawn to the flesh that peeked out from beneath her cape. He'd instructed red to only wear her cape this afternoon, telling her that a dress would tear and be ruined, while the cape was loose enough that it's wouldn't tear as she turned into a werewolf. But as Will watched Red begin to laugh, he couldn't take his eye of the swell of her breasts where they rose and fell, visible above the low fastening of her cape. Yearning stabbed through him viciously and Will knew that if he'd been standing he'd have fallen to his knees, he wanted her so badly.

"What do you suppose happens if a pair of werewolves have babies?" Red asked him innocently, a wicked twinkle in her eye as she paced slowly towards him "Do you suppose I'd give birth to a litter of wolf cubs?" she laughed. William smirked at her, for he'd been wondering the same thing since he'd first been attracted to her, though he'd wondered what would happen if he got her pregnant at all. As a werewolf, his genes would probably dominate hers, but now she was a werewolf too… would they have a litter of cubs, or give birth to regular human children or perhaps children that came out in werewolf form.

"I don't know Lass" William murmured, eyes fixed on her beautiful face as she came to stand by the bed "But I hope we get to find out."

Little Red felt little thrills of excitement race through her, coupling with the tremors of exhilaration as the moon climbed higher. Finding the same courage she'd had when she'd climbed out of the pool naked and tormented him, Red slowly climbed onto William's lap, straddling him until her thighs rested either side of his hips and the centre of her body rested against his. She tunnelled her fingers into his hair, feeling it grow thicker as the last light of day quickly gave way to the darkness of the night. William could feel the familiar prickling of his skin as the werewolf began to take hold of him and control him, but even that couldn't distract him from the tantalizing heat emanating from Red's body as she pressed herself against him and he heard the hungry sound that escaped him as she used her grip on his hair to tilt his face up to hers.

Red smirked wickedly as William's eyes grew brighter and brighter before her, his hair thickening and spreading. She could feel her own body prickling uncomfortably and she knew this was what it felt like to begin sprouting fur, but Red didn't really care about that. Before the transformation could set in completely, Red lowered her face until her lips hovered over William's and she felt her thighs clench around him with excitement and longing as he made a soft, whimpering sound that begged her to stop making them both wait any longer. She could smell how much he wanted her and Red had no doubt that Will could smell and probably feel how much she wanted him

Red felt her breath catch in her throat just as she lowered her lips and let them sweep gently against William's. The silky feel of their lips moving together made her eyes roll back with pleasure even as they slid closed and Red quivered when William's strong calloused hands slipped between the folds of her cape to caress her skin, gliding up and down the dip of her waist and over the swell of her breasts. An ache inside her throbbed at the feel of his hands and lips on her and Red pressed herself closer to him, wanting to feel even more of him.

William felt like howling as his girl kissed him, and when she leaned into his touch he felt like he could purr in satisfaction. As he kissed Little Red for the first time, William realised that even if she hadn't become a werewolf like him, he would never have been able to let her marry someone else. He was so desperately in love with her that he could taste her sweetness on his tongue and feel her in his soul as though it was her heart pumping the life blood through his veins. William knew that he could never live without her and so help anyone or anything that tried to take her from him ever again.

But even as he kissed her, William could feel the pull of the moon, feel the lure in his blood that called to him to run and hunt like the wild thing he was and when Red slowly pulled back from him, panting, her eyes filled with yearning for him, he could tell she felt the call of the moon just as strongly as he did. It was like a drug , sweeping through the pair of them and completely taking them over. Red crawled off his lap and William's wolf had him snarling at her desertion even as it allowed him the freedom of movement to complete the transition. The fur came first and as William embraced the change he smiled wickedly at Little Red seconds before thick brown fur exploded out of his skin and his spine lengthened as his tail grew.

As she watched him in fascination, the same thing happened to Red and William watched her gasp in surprise at the shivery, prickling feel of the fur growing in so quickly. He watched as her tail grew and her limbs elongated and her hands and feet took on the shape of Wolf paws. Her long red cape slipped off her shoulders seconds before she hunched forwards to all fours. She whimpered as the muscles and bones in her face and skull cracked and popped, rearranging into the head of a wolf.

William held off his transformation just long enough to watch the way his girl looked when shifted from fragile human into powerful werewolf. He smiled as he watched her and a soft snarl rolled through her wolf fangs as she watched him and William cursed as she spun and raced for the open door to his house. Will narrowed his eyes as he left the transformation crash over him, the rush of adrenaline to his system sending him out of his house at a dead run and into the moonlight.

Will shivered and skidded to a stop in his yard as he caught sight of Little Red just as she tipped her head back and howled to the moon. Unable to resist, William joined her as the touch of the moon soaked into his skin and took complete control of all of his senses, tipping his head back to howl at the moon, revelling in the feeling of finally having someone to howl with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Little Red woke up naked, all tangled up in limbs and fur. When her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, she blinked in surprise to learn exactly where she was. It seemed strange to her to be waking up in William's bed, and yet she had done so for the last three mornings. Today was different to the last two though, because today she was tangled up in William's arms. The last two days he had not shared his bed with her, choosing instead to transform into the giant form of a wolf and curl up that way in front of the crackling fire. At first Red had been grateful, for she had been sore as she healed and as her body worked to accommodate this new state of being she'd found herself within.

The first night she had offered to sleep on the floor instead, but William wouldn't hear of it, telling her that he was used to roughing it and that he often spent many a night in much less enjoyable sleeping situations as he did his job as a Woodsman in the form of a wolf. The second night, Little Red had offered that William share the bed with her, and from the look he'd given her, Red knew he had been sorely tempted, but like a gentleman he had declined without explanation leaving Red to wonder if it had to do with the desire he sometimes showed for her, or if he was no longer attracted to her because of the scars on her body and the hideous scarring on her previously beautiful face.

As she lay there on the bed, Red though back to the summer day he'd come home for her birthday. The day she'd felt just how attracted to her he was. She kept thinking about the way it had felt to be kissed by him last night, and how much she would like to do it again this morning and for the rest of forever, along with all those other intimate things her mother had explained to her that men and women indulged in.

She had been curious about such things since mother had told her about them and, Red suddenly found herself yearning for William to kiss her and pin her to something and press his body down on hers all over again. The junction of her thighs tingled and throbbed and she felt her folds grow wet at the thought of having his heat pressed against her, breaching her entrance and gliding inside. Her heart had begun to race.

"Will, are you awake?" Red murmured, trying to roll over amid the strong arms of the werewolf so that she could look at him.

When Will heard her heart begin to speed up again, he knew he was in trouble. Her blue eyes dilated wildly as she gazed up at him hungrily and he could smell her arousal. The wolf in his chest sat back and howled in triumph. When she opened her mouth and spoke again he thought he might actually go insane.

"What is it Red?" he asked her, though he had a vague idea of what she might want, based on how she smelled and the way her bare nipples were pulled taut with need and arousal.

"Do you remember the day you came home after being gone all winter? The one when you found me in that pond naked and singing to myself?"

Will nodded at her.

"Do you remember the way you chased me and tried to scare me, but then actually caught me and pinned me to the ground, naked and dripping wet?" she asked him.

The little growl he gave told Red that he certainly did remember.

"Will, why didn't you do it that day? Your body was lined up with mine, you could probably smell my feelings on the situation. You'd always shown me the full extent of a what if scenario before, and but that time you didn't."

William stayed silent, even as he moved, propping himself up on his elbows and rolling until he had her pinned against the bed, just in the same way he's had her pinned to the ground that day. Red's heart raced a little harder, and William felt her hands trail up to grip his ribs.

"I wanted you to do it that day" she admitted, looking him right in the eyes as though she could see into his soul.

"Red" he warned her, knowing that if she asked him to make love to her right there on the bed he wouldn't have the willpower to say no. he'd managed to keep himself from it last night since he'd have no control and not be able to keep from hurting her, but this morning, he had no such qualms.

"William" she breathed back to him, slowly she lifted her hands to rest them on his cheeks and Will had to grit his teeth as he fought for control. He clenched his eyes shut, foolishly believing that not being able to see her beautiful face and her eyes begging him to do it, he'd have more control.

It didn't work. Red took advantage of his closed eyes and William felt his heart constrict in surprise when her soft warm lips brushed across his. She'd kissed him! William's eyes flew open to stare at her while she smiled at him wickedly and he wondered if the fact that he was a werewolf was having some unknown affect on her, making her want this as much as him. But then, she was a werewolf now too…

"Red, don't look at me like that" William growled, warning her as she smiled so hungrily. He never kissed anyone before he'd kissed her last night and the feel of her lips against his had made him yearn for more, but Will knew that if he kissed her again now while she was naked and willing beneath him, he really wouldn't be able to stop until she was pregnant and married to him. "Your father would kill me if he knew I'd seen you naked, let alone that you just kissed me."

Red smirked up at him "If he's going to kill you, you might as well make it worthwhile and make love to me before you die" she told him, her eyes feasting on his lips. William growled at her.

"You'll get pregnant, I'll be murdered and you'll have to raise the kid alone. You're still a kid yourself Red. You're not ready to raise one and it's not like you're father would let me live, let alone marry you and help you." He argued with her, making his wolf snarl at him for bringing up rational excuses.

"It's not like Father will ever agree to you marrying me anyway. He hates you almost as much as he hates wolves" Red said bluntly "Besides, we're both werewolves. It's not like I could go back to the village and pretend I hadn't been eaten when I disappeared days ago, only to be married off to someone I hate when I'd be sneaking out every night to see you anyway. There could never be anyone else for me, Father be damned. And anyway, I'd kill father and anyone else who tried to take you from me."

Damn her for her convincing arguments! Will snarled like a real wolf and Red raised her eyebrows at him. It wasn't the first time she'd heard him snarl like an animal, and Will's mind snagged on another argument even though all he wanted to do was bury himself inside her. Before he could say anything else, Red captured his lips again, this time pressing them more firmly and kissing him soundly. Will growled in his throat at the way it made his heart race and his penis twitch. He let one of his hands slide into her hair, securing her lips to his and William knew he was going to lose the battle with himself and take her right there on his bed in the house he'd built so that he'd have somewhere for them to live and raise any children they might have..

Will pulled back from her lips with a snarl and he saw the way she flinched a little at the way his teeth were bared. His eyes must have begun to glow the way they did when he was the werewolf, because she didn't even see his fangs, just his eyes.

"And what if you did get pregnant Red? What if any children sired by me had something wrong with them?" his voice had turned guttural with desire and anger at himself for the way he kept fighting himself,

"Do you mean what if they were like you? Like me? Werewolves?" Red whispered to him, knowing he often said there was something wrong with him. William nodded, thinking he had her now. Red just laughed

"Of course they're going to be William. And if they weren't they'd beg us to find a way to make them so. Our babies would roam the forest just like you do, and even as they did they would be home. They'd have you to teach them how to be wild, and me to teach them that table manners are important. We'll live here in this wonderful house you've built and be the happiest people in all the land" Red told him fancifully, and William gritted his teeth at the image such a notion brought to mind.

"They'd be like me Red" he whispered. He'd often wondered if any children he sired would be werewolves like him and now like her, "They'd be feared and hated by people and have wild hair and no control of their need to run."

"But they'd be loved by us William, and by your mother and my Grandma."

Red stared up at William, and she knew she'd never want anyone else to kiss her lips and she knew without a doubt that she could never fall asleep on anyone else's chest in the winter time. Reaching up before he could argue anymore, Red kissed him again, liking the way his hand tightened in her hair and his body pressed down on top of hers deliciously. His tongue swept against the seam of her lips and Red parted hem eagerly, her own tongue flicking out the tangle with his. Red swallowed his growl as she tangled her hands into his messy hair and she felt her whole body tingle with happiness and yearning while her stomach swooped excitedly.

When she pulled back from his lips his eyes glowed eerily bright, brighter than she'd ever seen them and they were fixed upon her with such fierce hunger that for just a moment she felt like she was his prey. Returning to their conversation Red whispered to him

"Even if our children were born with three heads, I would love them just as much as I love you, William" Red told him fiercely. William's eyes went wide in shock and his voice softened as he replied.

"You love me?"

Red nodded her head smiling up at him.

"Every argument you've thrown at me is invalid. Father will never let me marry you, but I never want anyone else. I hate being away from you and the idea of ever spending another winter without being able to fall asleep on your chest is unbearable. I'm in love with you William. No matter what you might admit or how different you think we are or that I may someday give birth to a litter of wolf cubs for children. You're mine William Woodsman, and nothing else matters."

William felt his heart stop. She was in love with him. He'd loved her since that first day she'd marched over to help him drag a doe into his mother's house and as he stared down at her, William felt his wolf win the battle at hand.

"I love you Little Red. I have since the moment I met you" He whispered hoarsely. Just as he was about to kiss her again, her defiant little voice rang out with a challenge.

"Prove it!"

William felt all of his restraint go when the beautiful girl in his arms challenged him so fiercely. She pressed up against him, rubbing her breasts against his chest and William growled softly in pleasant expectation as he felt her nipples turn to peaks.

Dragging his hand from her hair, William scooted himself right back up her body, smelling her moist arousal rising off her in waves. She wanted him as much as he wanted her if his nose was telling him the truth and William growled at the musky sweet scent of her. Pinning her wrists again, William heard her heart begin to race and watched her eyes stare up at him hungrily. The lowered himself down on top of her, and listened to her moan as he swiped his tongue against the tight peak of her nipple before drawing it deep into his mouth and suckling hard, using his tongue to force the bud against the ribbed roof of his mouth, stimulating the flesh.

Red watched William lose control above her and she realised just how tight a grip he had on his control for someone so wild as she watched him let it go. Before she could blink he was everywhere, and she'd never felt anything like it. Sizzling spears of desire shot through her body straight to her core, her folds pulsing and creaming for him and all he'd done was draw her nipple into his mouth. She hissed when she realised he'd pinned her again so she couldn't touch him and Red whimpered as she arched her body up to rub against him tauntingly. Her slit begged for attention and Red felt his lips capture hers seconds before she felt that incredibly hot flesh pressing against her opening again. This time there was no restraint to his movement and his already thrusting hips sliced the hot flesh of his erection through her dripping folds, the head of him breaching her entrance.

He swallowed her moans and nipped her lip when she tried to thrust upwards, drawing him a little deeper. She could tell he was trying not to hurt her, but Red was so ready for him that she didn't think he could. This time she nipped his lips, urging him forwards. It earned her growl and William pulled back to stare down at her. His eyes were wilder than ever, and the heat in them seared her skin.

"I don't want to hurt you" he growled in such a guttural voice that if she hadn't been used to the tone and become a werewolf, she would have no clue of what he'd said. Red smirked at him hungrily and thrust against him again, realising that he hadn't lost all control yet.

"Then stop making me wait, and do it properly" She demanded huskily. His eyes glowed such a green that Red was lost in them as he really did let go of all control and drove himself into her with one credibly hard, long thrust. Red gasped when she felt him penetrate and disintegrate her internal barrier, but before she could focus on that pain she had to deal the with the feel of him so deep inside her that her whole body ached. Before she had a chance to adjust or fully comprehend the pain he withdrew himself all the way out but for the tip and then drove himself inside her again.

This time there was no pain until he filled her completely and Red groaned at how incredibly hot he was so deep inside her. Momentarily she remembered the way her mother had wrinkled her nose in revulsion when she'd told little Red about sex, and in that moment she knew that her mother had obviously told lies or never truly experienced sex.

The feel of William so deep inside her, and so hot made her feel as though she was being completely consumed by him, her heart raced even as she found her body responding eagerly to each powerful thrust as he drove himself into her again and again. She felt the way her muscles pulled tight from the incredibly pleasure racing through her and before she really understood what was happening to her body she felt something snap inside herself. Waves of pleasure crashed over her and Red was vaguely aware of the howl that hissed through her teeth seconds before she buried her fangs into William shoulder.

In return she got a growl of pleased satisfaction and William picked up the pace of his thrusts. Red lost track of how many times her muscles pulled tight and snapped, drowning her in pleasure over and over again until the moment when she stared up into William's eyes and watched the way they practically glowed even as he loosed a howl of his own and buried his inch long fangs into her flesh, marking her as his forever.


End file.
